2011 Baseball Season/Off-Season Discussion

[Falcon]

My biggest fear, if I were the Sox management/GM/whatever, would be that he would injure himself playing defense.  And no, I'm not kidding. 

Very true.

Being a fan of the game in general, I enjoy seeing some of the one dimensional DH types get out of their element for a game here and there and actually be full service players.



 

[LongGoneDay]

Ortiz could hold his own at 1B, but it's taking him out of his routine, being a DH since coming to Boston.
Sox would be weakening themselves regardless, because he isn't going to make all the plays that Gonzalez, one of the best defensive 1B in the biz is gonna make.
Then compound that by putting Gonzalez in a position he's played one time in his entire MLB career, and it's really getting messy. Especially since Drew, though maddening at the plate, is a very underrated outfielder.
It's easy to say these guys are pros, and should be able to play anywhere, but we aren't signing their paychecks.
These guys are creatures of habit, and I don't think it makes sense to weaken 2 positions to make room for one player, no matter how good he is.

I'm not in love with inter league play. As a fan, it's cool to see different teams now and again, but overall it seems pointless.
Teams build themselves to compete a certain way, against specific competition, and then have to throw it all out the window when these games come around.

Hopefully it doesn't disrupt Ortiz's timing too bad, because he looks like 2004 era Ortiz.
Instead of watching one of the games best hitters, we get to watch pitchers painful at bats.

Sox still have the pitching and offense to win these games regardless.
Tough to have too much of a problem with interleague play since the AL normally cleans up, as of late anyways.

[pilferk]

Oswalt's back injury might be BAD.  As in, "done" bad.

http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/20110624_Phillies_can_t_gloss_over_Oswalt_issues_anymore.html

http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/06/24/back-injury-could-put-roy-oswalt%E2%80%99s-career-in-jeopardy/

[LongGoneDay]

Oswalt's back injury might be BAD.  As in, "done" bad.

http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/20110624_Phillies_can_t_gloss_over_Oswalt_issues_anymore.html

http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/06/24/back-injury-could-put-roy-oswalt%E2%80%99s-career-in-jeopardy/

Ouch!

[tim_m]

That would be absolutely devastating to the Phils if he's done not just for the season but career.

[Falcon]

That would be absolutely devastating to the Phils if he's done not just for the season but career.

It does indeed suck, no doubt about it.

Although..

If any team is equipped to handle it, it's Philly both short and long term.

By far the best rotation in the NL regardless and crazy tough to match up with Halladay, Lee and Hammels in a post season short series.

[pilferk]

It does indeed suck, no doubt about it.

Although..

If any team is equipped to handle it, it's Philly both short and long term.

By far the best rotation in the NL regardless and crazy tough to match up with Halladay, Lee and Hammels in a post season short series.

I agree....bad, but not devastating.  He's not been all that great this season, and you're still looking at Halliday, Lee, and Hamels as your 1-3 in the playoffs.  They'd have a weak 4, but with those 3...I'm not sure it would matter much.

[pilferk]

And just as Mauer gets back, the Twins are going to be without Morneau for 6 weeks (maybe longer) while he goes out for neck surgery.

http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/06/24/justin-morneau-to-undergo-neck-surgery-expected-to-miss-six-weeks/related

[D]

Fantasy advice please in money keeper league

i have Carlos Gonzalez and Tommy Hanson   Guy wants to trade me Ryan Braun and Mike Stanton.... Deal or no deal???

Ive got Michael Pineda.. Julio Teheran coming up next year.. Mike Minor.... Johan Santana in July, Brandon Webb hopefully comes back from injury... I also hit on Vogelsong and Colon..

my offense is ok... i got Bryce Harper coming next year so could be a ridiculous outfield with Braun,Stanton and Harper...

[faldor]

Fantasy advice please in money keeper league

i have Carlos Gonzalez and Tommy Hanson   Guy wants to trade me Ryan Braun and Mike Stanton.... Deal or no deal???

Ive got Michael Pineda.. Julio Teheran coming up next year.. Mike Minor.... Johan Santana in July, Brandon Webb hopefully comes back from injury... I also hit on Vogelsong and Colon..

my offense is ok... i got Bryce Harper coming next year so could be a ridiculous outfield with Braun,Stanton and Harper...

I usually value offense over pitching in fantasy, so I'd lean towards making the deal.  Hanson looks like a stud though.

[Falcon]

I'd make the deal although I'm not sure I'd count on Harper as soon as next year, kids got alot of growing up to do before he steps foot in the show.

[Falcon]

Some Francona/Ortiz banter going on at hardballtalk, enjoy.

http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/06/27/david-ortiz-is-not-a-baseball-player/#comments

[faldor]

Some Francona/Ortiz banter going on at hardballtalk, enjoy.

http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/06/27/david-ortiz-is-not-a-baseball-player/#comments

I'm sorry, but that's a ridiculous argument.  David Ortiz could EASILY play the field.  He's played 1B before and he can fill in quite fine if need be.  The problem is, they have a gold glove 1B already, so it doesn't make sense to do that.  I agree with Francona, these interleague games are ridiculous, for the AL teams especially.  The AL teams do build their teams with a DH in mind, and when they travel to NL parks they have to sit inevitably one of their best hitters.  Not to mention the fact that AL pitchers have to hit and run the bases, which they don't normally do.  I can't tell you the number of injuries AL pitchers have sustained because of this.  Clay Buchholz last year, and Chien Ming Wang has never been the same to name a few.  I'm sorry, but some of these NL purists with the holier than thou attitude that the DH is sacrilegious is tiresome.

It is MUCH easier for an NL team to come to an AL park and ask a bench player to HIT.  Something they do every day.

[sandman]

hey faldor - your Sox are going down this week!

just kidding dude. 

tonight's an awesome matchup. i didn't realize Beckett's ERA was THAT low. unfortunately i am in bumblefuck, TX for a few days and tonight's game is not televised nationally (i do get to watch the WNBA though!!  ). tomorrow's game is on the duece so i'll catch that one (by far the worst matchup, of course). and i'm hoping i can catch some of thursday afternoon's game at the airport - probably wishful thinking that there's a sports bar with a MLB package though. i think we are moving Hamels up a day to face Lester.

Enjoy!   

[tim_m]

Lee is owning the sox ass.

[faldor]

hey faldor - your Sox are going down this week!

just kidding dude. 

tonight's an awesome matchup. i didn't realize Beckett's ERA was THAT low. unfortunately i am in bumblefuck, TX for a few days and tonight's game is not televised nationally (i do get to watch the WNBA though!!  ). tomorrow's game is on the duece so i'll catch that one (by far the worst matchup, of course). and i'm hoping i can catch some of thursday afternoon's game at the airport - probably wishful thinking that there's a sports bar with a MLB package though. i think we are moving Hamels up a day to face Lester.

Enjoy!   

Yeah, Beckett HAD been awesome this year.  He was a little off tonight.  Lee was great as usual, so even if Beckett was great it wouldn't have made a difference.  Not to make an excuse, but the Sox lineup against a lefty in an NL park was once again horrendous tonight.  After the top 4, you're basically facing a AAA team.  Unfortunately they have to face Hamels on Thursday, so it will be more of the same.  They're gonna have to put up a good showing tomorrow offensively, 1) because they're facing a righty AND Ortiz is supposedly playing 1B, and 2) they have John Lackey going, who has been quite bad this season.  I just can't wait till this interleague stuff is over with.  Previous years the Sox have cleaned up against the NL.  Not this year.  They're not built for that style of play this year, especially without Carl Crawford.

[sandman]

a buddy of mine had said beckett has a poor history pitching at CBP. not sure if that's true or how many appearances that is based on though. but the phils offense has been terrible lately, and inconsistent all year. i was surprised when i saw we put up 5 runs.

Lee is in the zone right now. he had a couple questionable starts a few weeks ago but has been on a tear ever since. 3 straight complete game shutouts. unreal.

wow...again i didn't realize lackey has been THAT bad. worley has been good for us and i'm hoping he turns out to be a solid #4 or 5 for us. but it's tough to expect much more than 5 innings from him at this point. which isn't that bad when your bullpen is pitching well (which the phils BP has been doing), but we're missing a critical piece there right now.

[LongGoneDay]

Lackey is worst pitcher in baseball bad.
He's bad enough that Francona may put Ortiz at first and Gonzalez in right because he knows Sox are going to need a lot of runs with him on the mound.

Whoever thought bringing Lackey to the AL East was a good idea was asleep at the wheel.
Bet they wish they had that one back.

[faldor]

Lackey is worst pitcher in baseball bad.
He's bad enough that Francona may put Ortiz at first and Gonzalez in right because he knows Sox are going to need a lot of runs with him on the mound.

Whoever thought bringing Lackey to the AL East was a good idea was asleep at the wheel.
Bet they wish they had that one back.

I don't get it really.  I remember him pitching quite well against the Red Sox back in the day.  And holding his own against the Yanks, pitching well in big games.  I haven't seen anything close to that since he joined the Sox.

Now I do sympathize slightly with him, seeing that his wife is undergoing treatment for breast cancer.  That's got to be weighing heavily on his mind.  And I'm also sure last year was an adjustment pitching for a new team, living in a new city, trying to live up to the lucrative contract he signed.  So far, it's been a disaster of a signing.  And I don't really see it getting much better.  Theo has made some great moves/signings in his time, but he's made almost an equal amount of terrible ones.  Lackey, Dice K, Drew, Lugo, Renteria, Clement.  Buck Showalter wasn't too far off when he said he has the luxury of the large payroll where he can hide those mistakes easier than teams with pedestrian payrolls. 

[tim_m]

Lee is just lights out right now. I think they said he has given up 1 earned run in his last 45 innings or something around there with an era of 0.27.