2010 Baseball Season/Off-Season Discussion

[pilferk]

How does this guy get such hot chicks?  This girl, Eliza Dushku, Alyssa Milano?  Did he date Alyssa?  That's prbably a stupid question.  What MLB pitcher hasn't dated Miss Milano?  If only I worked a little harder with my pitching and was able to make it past high school.  Oh, what could have been.

Dushku is one of those incredibly hot chicks who also just oozes sex (Milano too, to a lesser extent...but the plastic surgery hasn't done her a lot of favors).  You just KNOW she's a FREAK in the sack.    Man, I love "Dollhouse".  Too bad it ends this Friday....watching her play dress up barbie was 75% of the show's appeal!

Looks like the A's have made a serious (and lucrative) offer to Sheets.

Looks like Damon is sniffing around the Yanks again (and vice versa).

Otherwise...been sorta quiet on the hot stove front.  Not much time left...like 2.5 weeks until pitchers and catchers, right?

[Bill 213]

Johan pitched a small bullpen session during a mini camp in St. Lucie the other day and was feeling good, so hopefully he will be ready for April.

Not looking good for the Mets rotation at all this year......the diabolical Minaya/Manuel combo seems to think our pitching staff is a-ok.

Santana
Maines
Pelfrey
O. Perez

[Layne Staley's Sunglasses]

Falcon, looks like Brad Penny's off season workouts are going quite splendidly.

http://www.wwtdd.com/2010/01/karina-smirnoff-is-having-fun/37081pcn_karinagold-4/

37081, TURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDS, PROVIDENCIALES - Friday January 22, 2010. **EXCLUSIVE** Karina Smirnoff and baseball player Brad Penny of the St Louis Cardinals enjoy the sun, sand and surf while staying at the ?Gansevoort? Resort in Turks and Caicos Islands. The two are seen snorkeling together and playing a game of catch with one ?


How does this guy get such hot chicks?  This girl, Eliza Dushku, Alyssa Milano?  Did he date Alyssa?  That's prbably a stupid question.  What MLB pitcher hasn't dated Miss Milano?  If only I worked a little harder with my pitching and was able to make it past high school.  Oh, what could have been.

I mentioned in the 2009 thread that Penny is hung like a race horse.  I'm not out for a LOL, this is the truth.

[faldor]

Falcon, looks like Brad Penny's off season workouts are going quite splendidly.

http://www.wwtdd.com/2010/01/karina-smirnoff-is-having-fun/37081pcn_karinagold-4/

37081, TURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDS, PROVIDENCIALES - Friday January 22, 2010. **EXCLUSIVE** Karina Smirnoff and baseball player Brad Penny of the St Louis Cardinals enjoy the sun, sand and surf while staying at the ?Gansevoort? Resort in Turks and Caicos Islands. The two are seen snorkeling together and playing a game of catch with one ?


How does this guy get such hot chicks?  This girl, Eliza Dushku, Alyssa Milano?  Did he date Alyssa?  That's prbably a stupid question.  What MLB pitcher hasn't dated Miss Milano?  If only I worked a little harder with my pitching and was able to make it past high school.  Oh, what could have been.

I mentioned in the 2009 thread that Penny is hung like a race horse.  I'm not out for a LOL, this is the truth.

Well that would explain it I guess.  The word must be out amongst young hollywood starlets, and Brazilian (or whatever that chick is) models.

[Layne Staley's Sunglasses]

Falcon, looks like Brad Penny's off season workouts are going quite splendidly.

http://www.wwtdd.com/2010/01/karina-smirnoff-is-having-fun/37081pcn_karinagold-4/

37081, TURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDS, PROVIDENCIALES - Friday January 22, 2010. **EXCLUSIVE** Karina Smirnoff and baseball player Brad Penny of the St Louis Cardinals enjoy the sun, sand and surf while staying at the ?Gansevoort? Resort in Turks and Caicos Islands. The two are seen snorkeling together and playing a game of catch with one ?


How does this guy get such hot chicks?  This girl, Eliza Dushku, Alyssa Milano?  Did he date Alyssa?  That's prbably a stupid question.  What MLB pitcher hasn't dated Miss Milano?  If only I worked a little harder with my pitching and was able to make it past high school.  Oh, what could have been.

I mentioned in the 2009 thread that Penny is hung like a race horse.  I'm not out for a LOL, this is the truth.

Well that would explain it I guess.  The word must be out amongst young hollywood starlets, and Brazilian (or whatever that chick is) models.

Oh dude, you have NO idea!  Women talk more about men about such issues. 

[Falcon]

Gotta love Penny, dude pulls some seriously smokin' chicks..

As an aside, the site from which that story was pulled www.wwtdd.com is one of the best entertainment sites on the web - the writing is hysterical..

Other stuff..

A little surprised with Sheets and the A's, woulda thought he'd have stayed in the NL and away from the DH in what is basically a 1 year audition for a long term contract deal..

Damon and the Yanks makes sense but again, only on the Yanks terms.

[GeorgeSteele]

Johan pitched a small bullpen session during a mini camp in St. Lucie the other day and was feeling good, so hopefully he will be ready for April.

Not looking good for the Mets rotation at all this year......the diabolical Minaya/Manuel combo seems to think our pitching staff is a-ok.

Santana
Maines
Pelfrey
O. Perez

Beyond depressing.  After Santana, none of those guys would even pitch 5th for the Yankees.  Forget Minaya/Manuel, the team is being run by the Wilpons.  Minaya and the team doctor gave the go-ahead a few weeks ago for Beltran to have knee surgery and the Wilpons flipped because they would have preferred it be delayed further so as not to hurt season ticket sales.  They continue to invest nothing in scouting.  Our stadium is named after a complete failure of a bank.  I know of no other franchise that consistently gives its fans the finger more than them.  I am hanging by a fucking thread with this team.

[Bill 213]

I agree it's depressing all the way around.  I hate Citi Field.  I think it's a shit park and scares away a lot of talent from coming to Queens.  Ah well the Wilpons will sell a lot of Jason Bay jerseys this year if anything haha.

I remember going to the home opener last year, spent a buttload on the tickets...the upper decks have horrible seats that obstruct big chunks of the field....lost the game...depressing time all around.  The next morning the girlfriend and I went to Yankee stadium (before it was officially opened a week later) to tour it and just check it out (in our Mets gear nonetheless).  Awesome park and people even had a good time ribbing us.  I remember telling them I went there to jinx it! HA who is the fool now? Take this photo as a joke in good jest Yank fans!

[pilferk]

Looks like the A's have made a serious (and lucrative) offer to Sheets.

Looks like Damon is sniffing around the Yanks again (and vice versa).

Otherwise...been sorta quiet on the hot stove front.  Not much time left...like 2.5 weeks until pitchers and catchers, right?

Or, maybe not (concerning Damon):

http://bases.nbcsports.com/2010/01/the-yankees-and-damon-are-totally-splitsville.html.php

You know it's bad when "Boras is unavailable for comment".

[Falcon]

I love the way the Yanks didn't give into Boras on Damon, smart money says they'll be just fine without him.

[faldor]

Gotta love Penny, dude pulls some seriously smokin' chicks..

As an aside, the site from which that story was pulled www.wwtdd.com is one of the best entertainment sites on the web - the writing is hysterical..

Other stuff..

A little surprised with Sheets and the A's, woulda thought he'd have stayed in the NL and away from the DH in what is basically a 1 year audition for a long term contract deal..

Damon and the Yanks makes sense but again, only on the Yanks terms.

Yeah, www.wwtdd.com is a pretty good site.  I get all my hollywood gossip there.  I have to keep up with what all the kids are talking about on the streets, you know?

Last I heard, the A's were still the front runners for Damon according to Buster Olney even AFTER they signed Sheets.

[pilferk]

And the Yanks are done spending (supposedly):

http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100127&content_id=7984542&vkey=news_nyy&fext=.jsp&c_id=nyy

Can't say I'm uber excited about the signing, but he'll make a good platoon mate for Brett Gardner, I guess.

[Falcon]

Can't say I'm uber excited about the signing, but he'll make a good platoon mate for Brett Gardner, I guess.

It may not be the sexiest move they've made but I think the message it sends is loud and fucking clear and I dig it.

Damon or not, the Bombers are odds on favorites to repeat in the AL - same with the Phillies in the Senior Circuit.

[Falcon]

Maybe Jimmy Ballgame can class up the horseshit bunch of bushleaguers that are the Milwaukee Brewers..

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/Rosenthal-Jim-Edmonds-Milwaukee-Brewers-012810

The Milwaukee Brewers on Thursday signed Jim Edmonds to a minor-league contract.

Under terms of the deal, Edmonds can become a free agent on March 25 if he is not on the Brewers' major-league roster. If Edmonds is on the big-league roster, he will earn $825,000 in 2010, with the chance to earn between $2 million and $2.5 million based on performance incentives.

Edmonds, 39, did not play in 2009 after having a strong second half of 2008 with the Cubs.

The Brewers are planning on going with young speedster Carlos Gomez in center field. Milwaukee acquired Gomez in exchange for infielder J.J. Hardy in an offseason trade with the Twins. Edmonds would provide insurance for the Brewers in center and give them a lefty presence in a lineup dominated by righties.

In 16 big league seasons, Edmonds has a .284 career average and has hit 382 home runs.

[novemberparadise23]

I think the AL West will be fun to watch this year. The Angels seemed to have taken a step back, Marniers a big step up, Oaklands pitching has another year under there belt, and Texas improved alot last year

[faldor]

Looks like Johnny Damon is close to having a team.

Buster_ESPN - Heard this: The overwhelming expectation among some executives involved in the Johnny Damon bidding is that he will wind up with Tigers.
about 6 hours ago from web

[Falcon]

Let's hope the Damon soap opera is indeed put to rest, that horse is in fact dead.

Pitchers and catchers soon, can't freaking wait.

[sandman]

Mets 2010 outlook from Yahoo.com......ouch!

Step right up and meet the Mess

If we have this right, the New York Mets owner has run out of money because he is knee-deep in the Bernie Madoff fallout, the GM and field manager need to start fast or start walkin?, there is no starting catcher, or fifth starter (or fourth, or third), they?re breaking in a first baseman, and they?re not satisfied with their second baseman. And, let?s see, Carlos Beltran(notes) is coming off knee surgery, Johan Santana(notes) off elbow surgery, and Jose Reyes off hamstring surgery. Presented a ballpark that hasn?t played for power, they spent all their money on a guy ? Jason Bay(notes) ? who?s primary tool is power, and then fixed up the place with the less-than-inspiring likes of Mike Jacobs(notes), Kelvim Escobar(notes), Gary Matthews Jr.(notes) and Ryota Igarashi(notes).

Did we miss anything?

Oh, they?re going to spend $140 million for it.

It?ll be worth hanging out in Port St. Lucie just to see what breaks camp. The Mets? only plan can be to hope for health, to make something of a rotation that was atrocious last season but has great (Mike Pelfrey(notes)) or decent (Oliver Perez(notes), John Maine(notes)) stuff, to have Beltran and Reyes and David Wright(notes) retake their place among the game?s elite, and to have Bay prove those numbers weren?t so much about Fenway.

Course, then they?d be good enough to finish third.

[GeorgeSteele]

^ Can't argue with much of that, clearly things are bad when fans of the losingest franchise in sports history can revel in the pitiful state of the Mets without shame.  Not sure what can be done at this point.  I'd say what's needed is a proven GM that can come in and rebuild the team (like Frank Cashen did with them in the 80s, like Gene Michael did with the Yankees, like Pat Gillick did with the Phillies, etc).  Problem is, I don't see that happening so long as the Wilpons are in control.  Fred Wilpon is under the impression that -- because he was Sandy Koufax's teammate in high school -- he is a baseball guy.  He's not.  He's just a guy with a lot of money -- basically, another Jerry Jones, except nobody knows of or cares about him.  Get a well-respected baseball guy in there (I'd even take a sabermetrics drone at this point), open your wallet and get out of the way.

I must say, the fans are a problem too.  They'll continue to support the team no matter how much they suck.  Yankee Stadium was a ghost town in the late 80s/early 90s.  For some reason, Mets fans keep supporting mediocrity.  I get the whole thing about not being a front-runner, fair-weather fan and all.  But you can't let ownership chump you out either.

[pilferk]

^ Can't argue with much of that, clearly things are bad when fans of the losingest franchise in sports history can revel in the pitiful state of the Mets without shame.  Not sure what can be done at this point.  I'd say what's needed is a proven GM that can come in and rebuild the team (like Frank Cashen did with them in the 80s, like Gene Michael did with the Yankees, like Pat Gillick did with the Phillies, etc).  Problem is, I don't see that happening so long as the Wilpons are in control.  Fred Wilpon is under the impression that -- because he was Sandy Koufax's teammate in high school -- he is a baseball guy.  He's not.  He's just a guy with a lot of money -- basically, another Jerry Jones, except nobody knows of or cares about him.  Get a well-respected baseball guy in there (I'd even take a sabermetrics drone at this point), open your wallet and get out of the way.

I must say, the fans are a problem too.  They'll continue to support the team no matter how much they suck.  Yankee Stadium was a ghost town in the late 80s/early 90s.  For some reason, Mets fans keep supporting mediocrity.  I get the whole thing about not being a front-runner, fair-weather fan and all.  But you can't let ownership chump you out either.

Luring Valentine away from ESPN would be a good first step.  Sure, he's controversial, but...lets face it...the Mets are so steeped in controversy right now, what's a little bit more.

And he could function either as both coach and GM, or along side a less proven GM, based on his abilities, alone, IMHO.

Then they have to stop trying to be the "other Yankees".  They're not nearly as good at it.  Bay wasn't a bad signing (though we'll see what his number are at Citi), but I'm not sure he's a great one, either.  Santana has actually been the lone bright spot in the rotation.  They need to spend money on proven (and relatively young) pitching and they need to work on developing the same (and not throwing it out as trade bait every chance they get).  They've got a good left side of the infield, but could benefit from an upgrade at 1B.  The outfield, honestly, is where they should be spending the LEAST of their money...there are plenty of good hitting, decent fielding outfielders out there.  There's actually a glut of them (Ask Abreu and Damon what that does to your market value).  The Mets have to figure out how to seperate the wheat from the chaffe, though...and that seems to be their stumbling block.

Oh, and their bullpen flat out sucks.  They have to go out and find a bridge from their starter to their closer, and fast.  Santana can not throw 7 1/3 to 8 innings every time out, just to preserve a 2 to 3 run lead.  They're gonna run that guy into the ground.....and he's, by far, their most valuable asset.

One other quick thing:  Yes, the Stadium was a ghost town in the late 80's and early 90's.  And I'm sure SOME of that was the teams woes.  But also keep something else in mind:  That area was a DANGEROUS shit hole around that time, too.  I would not have brought my kids to a game when it was like that.  I WAS a bit leary of heading down there without a large group of friends and/or family along with me.  It was just NOT nice.  Then, starting around '92, they really cleaned up the area (and a lot of NYC)...by '94, attendance was growing again, and they didn't really get good until '95 (and then, of course, the '96 season).