2011 Baseball Season/Off-Season Discussion

[pilferk]

....and now Hamels is hurt (hand) for the Phillies.

We'll see how serious it is.

[tim_m]

If it weren't for Lee and Halladay the phils would be in trouble right now. That's two down in their rotation.

[Falcon]

Berkman goes deep twice tonight, dude's having a helluva first half.

Pilf/Tim - woulda been nice for him to be doing this for the Yanks down the stretch last year, huh? 

[faldor]

....and now Hamels is hurt (hand) for the Phillies.

We'll see how serious it is.

Looks like they may have dodged a bullet, as it doesn't look to be too serious.  They say he's scheduled to make his next start, though I think it may be a little early to call that one.

[pilferk]

Berkman goes deep twice tonight, dude's having a helluva first half.

Pilf/Tim - woulda been nice for him to be doing this for the Yanks down the stretch last year, huh? 

He was decent last year for us...but he didn't get enough AB's to be really effective.  Puma is the type of player who has to play regularly to play well....and throwing him out there in the last 2 games of the Rangers series, cold, doesn't help much.

[pilferk]

....and now Hamels is hurt (hand) for the Phillies.

We'll see how serious it is.

Looks like they may have dodged a bullet, as it doesn't look to be too serious.  They say he's scheduled to make his next start, though I think it may be a little early to call that one.

I'm guessing he might see a 15 day DL stint until the bruising and swelling subside.  Sure, it's his glove hand....but I'm not sure they'll risk it...he'd only miss 2 starts if it's effective back to the injury.

[Falcon]

He was decent last year for us...but he didn't get enough AB's to be really effective.  Puma is the type of player who has to play regularly to play well....and throwing him out there in the last 2 games of the Rangers series, cold, doesn't help much.

Ya, I'm not sure it was the best situation for him to succeed plus he wasn't healthy..

Nice to see the Yanks beat up on the Mets, this Jose Reyes love fest is borderline puke inducing.

Good player, great year - let' keep it in perspective for crissakes.

[Falcon]

And this just in from Cards beat writer Joe Strauss:


Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols' fractured left wrist has shown "significant improvement" following aggressive treatment to promote healing of the bone, likely allowing the three-time NL Most Valuable Player to return to the club immediately after the All-Star break, if not before, according to sources familiar with the situation.

A follow-up CT scan performed on Friday found a diminished fissure on the distal tip of Pujols' left radius, which was damaged when Kansas City Royals third baseman Wilson Betemit collided with Pujols on a play at first base during the teams' June 19 game at Busch Stadium.


Read more: http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/cardinal-beat/article_94b0b094-a4cb-11e0-94b4-0019bb30f31a.html#ixzz1QyHafZeN

[tim_m]

And this just in from Cards beat writer Joe Strauss:


Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols' fractured left wrist has shown "significant improvement" following aggressive treatment to promote healing of the bone, likely allowing the three-time NL Most Valuable Player to return to the club immediately after the All-Star break, if not before, according to sources familiar with the situation.

A follow-up CT scan performed on Friday found a diminished fissure on the distal tip of Pujols' left radius, which was damaged when Kansas City Royals third baseman Wilson Betemit collided with Pujols on a play at first base during the teams' June 19 game at Busch Stadium.


Read more: http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/cardinal-beat/article_94b0b094-a4cb-11e0-94b4-0019bb30f31a.html#ixzz1QyHafZeN

Good news for the Cards.

[tim_m]

Things are about to get great for the yankees. They are about to be healthy in a big way, we get Colon back today, Jeter back monday, Hughes sometime next week. It just depends on if he gets one more minor league start. His velocity his back consistently 92-95 and had great control in his last rehab. Chavez could be back this Wednesday, he strained his back a little so he may be a little delayed. Soriano will likely be back on the 14tth and Felliciano is throwing. So maybe he's not far either. On top of that in all those players absence we have been red hot. Everyone in that lineup has started hitting and the pitching has been great.

[tim_m]

What the hell Ron Washington and the players? How do you not pick the american league leader in wins Sabathia and second in home runs Teixeira.

[Falcon]

The All Star selections were a bit goofy, how CC was left off is strange for sure.

I could go either way with Tex, seems like he may have been left off due to Jeter/ARod getting the fan vote...

Moving on, I've been waiting for this day for nearly a year.

Johnny Queto vs Chris Carpenter at Busch.

Would love to see Carp drill the idiot first time up...

[D]

If u want to know how stupid most fans are... all u gotta do is look at All Star fan votes.  Just ridiculous

[tim_m]

I don't know about going either way with Tex, i mean the man is second in both home runs and rbi's. That's pretty worthy if you ask me. I think for Sabathia the big reason he was left off is cause of that asinine rule that if you pitch sunday before you can't pitch in the game. As it stands right now there are 5-6 american league pitchers who made the team scheduled to pitch sunday and won't be able to play in the game. This rule is stupid and completely ridiculous. Its not like they are going to pitch more than 2-3 innings anyway. At least give these guys a batter or two. They earned the right to be there and should get the chance to participate period.

That may be why he was left off and i'll agree Jeter probably shouldn't be a starter, but, its hard to leave a guy like Jeter off especially since he's about to get his 3000th hit.

[Falcon]

As for the rule with the pitchers, it's (of late) been "implied" that a starting pitcher going the Sunday beforehand wouldn't pitch - they'd be there in ceremony only.  And with the game 'counting" now, a manager has to be more cautious with his reserve pitchers and they're (un)availability.

The whole All Star process has gotten a bit silly for me - expanded rosters, WS home field etc..

[faldor]

You're always going to have All Star snubs.  It's inevitable.  The way I can see it though, Russel Martin may have had a hand in keeping Mark Texeira off the team.  You don't really need 3 catchers on an All Star team, especially when Martin is a fringe All Star at best this season and his team already has 5 other guys on the team.  If Martin was on a lowly team where he'd be the only representative then it'd be more understandable (eg. Matt Wieters).  Again, I'm not saying he's not deserving, but that certainly took up an extra spot from someone.  And 1B is still a loaded position.  You can't really argue Texeira should've made it over Gonzalez OR Cabrera.

And you can't really have it both ways, there's no way Derek Jeter is an all star.  Not anymore.  Even with the position weaker than it's been in some time.  Yunel Escobar has far better stats than Jeter, plus Derek missed a good amount of time.  Fans just know the name, and punch the ballot for him, along with all Yankee fans.  So he gets in.  Sabathia is a little more puzzling.  Who knows though, if they have a certain number of relievers they feel they have to take versus another starter.  You can't really argue against the other starting pitchers on the squad being less worthy, especially considering again that each team needs at least one representative.

I'm a little surprised Matt Joyce made the team, as he has struggled mightily of late.  That goes to show you though, these things are voted on way in advance.  At one point this season both he and Russel Martin were sure fire All Stars.  But now, you could certainly argue against that.  It's all about when the votes were cast though.  You can't rescind your votes afterward.

[tim_m]

That's another thing that bothers me, the whole all teams have to be represented thing. If the fans, manager and players deem a certain team doesn't have a player worthy of being on so be it. I still stick to what i think about the no pitch rule. So many worthy pitchers who got selected can't pitch in the game cause of it. Pitchers are really being turned into pussies these days by management, coaches etc. I don't think a pitcher who pitched two days before who gets one or two batters is gonna blow out his arm or anything. I know there's the argument the game counts in for the world series now but everyone that gets selected deserves the chance to play in the game.

[pilferk]

What the hell Ron Washington and the players? How do you not pick the american league leader in wins Sabathia and second in home runs Teixeira.

I get it...it stinks, but I get it.

You have to pick one player from each team.  The Yanks have SO many players who were voted as starters....you gotta leave some off.

And Sabathia likely couldn't pitch, anyway.  If everything holds true, he'll pitch RIGHT before the AS break...so wouldn't be eligible to pitch in the game.

[Falcon]

The whole All Star process has gotten a bit silly for me - expanded rosters, WS home field etc..

Oh ya, one more thing that has helped detract from the ASG for me - interleague play.

The mystery of seeing Jeter come to a NL park or Pujols go to an AL park is gone, whoopty doo -happens every year..BFD.

Speaking of Albert and DJ, I heard Tim Kurkjian on with Scott Van Pelt today talking about Jeter's iminent move to another position - in 2013..

And by the way, looks like Pujols returns to the Cards lineup tonight - Mr Miyagi is doing a helluva job as Cards trainer (I stole the Miyagi reference from a poster at hardballtalk)

UPDATE: Looks like AP is available to PH, not is starting lineup

[tim_m]

What the hell Ron Washington and the players? How do you not pick the american league leader in wins Sabathia and second in home runs Teixeira.

I get it...it stinks, but I get it.

You have to pick one player from each team.  The Yanks have SO many players who were voted as starters....you gotta leave some off.

And Sabathia likely couldn't pitch, anyway.  If everything holds true, he'll pitch RIGHT before the AS break...so wouldn't be eligible to pitch in the game.

I really dislike that requirement. A player from every team. What if a team doesn't have someone really worthy?

The no pitching thing is stupid too. I mean how many pitchers that were picked initially won't be able to pitch simply cause they pitched on Sunday? I think there is like 5 or 6 at least. That means several pitchers have to be replaced on the roster by someone else maybe someone less deserving and maybe not as good. Personally i think this makes the all star game worse and potentially could effect a team's chance to win. Its time management, coaches etc realize bad mechanics ruin arms not how many pitches you throw. I wanna see a all star game with the best pitchers not their replacements cause of some stupid rule.