MLB 2009 Season Discussion Thread
 

For those of you who don't know, I AM FUCKIN HUGE ON BASEBALL. FUCKIN HUGE.

This thread will be for baseball discussions and loves and hates and braggings and sportsmanships.

SO LETS GET THIS BITCH STARTED

CC to Yanks, K-Rod to Mets!!!! PRETTY EXCITING COUPLE OF DAYS!!!!

Where do you guys think Burnett, Lowe, Sheets, and Texeira will land D: ?

TB 09

Glad to see the Yankees signed another fat, over the hill pitcher for way too much money.

Early Predictions. Subject to change once the winter meetings are over. As of now:

N.L. East
Phillies
Mets
Marlins
Braves
Nationals

N.L. Central
Cubs
Cardinals
Brewers
Astros
Reds
Pirates

N.L. West
Dodgers
D-Backs
Giants
Rockies
Padres

Wild Card - Mets

Cubs over Mets
Phillies over Dodgers

Phillies over Cubs

N.L. MVP - Albert Pujols (Again)

N.L. Cy Young - Johan Santana


A.L. East
Rays
Yankees
Red Sox
Blue Jays
Orioles

A.L. Central
Twins
Tigers
White Sox
Indians
Royals

A.L. West
Rangers
Angels
A's
Mariners

Wild Card - Yankees

Yankees over Twins
Rays over Rangers

Yankees over Rays

A.L. MVP - Matt Holiday

A.L. Cy Young - C.C. Sabathia


Yankees over Phillies


These will all change once the meetings are over. There are still so many free agents available. Pointless to predict now, but I felt like it.

He's 28.

hahahahahahahahahaaha

Ok, then fat and overpriced.

that's better !

So everyone agrees the Phils will win the N.L. again.

Sweet.

Only if everyone makes the same mistakes again.

What's this??

Agreed.

2008 was pure hell for all Seattle sports teams, so I'm afraid it'll take a lot to get me back into it next season. But I would like to see Tampa Bay get into the playoffs (or further) once again.

Looks like you'll be getting some of the Mets scraps, Ned. Apparently a 12 player deal is about to go down.

god damn I love baseball

We'll end up with squat. Putz and Reed are going to get traded and have awesome seasons, despite the fact that they've been unreliable/mediocre for us lately. It happens every season. The Mariners are the farm system of the MLB.

I should move to New York.

I'm pretty sure the Nationals would beg to differ.

They've been around for like 2 years. Us: 32. It's pathetic, there's no excuse anymore. WE NEED TO WIN.

I want Griffey back. Everything was better in the 90s :(

EDIT: :I

Yeah when you think about it, the Mariners had a team with perhaps the best all around player of his generation (Griffey), perhaps the best pitcher of his generation (Johnson), and perhaps the best shortstop of his generation (A-Rod).

And the Florida Marlins have 2 rings. With a WNBA payroll and no one you've ever heard of.

They had Pudge, Beckett, Lowell, to name three off the top of my head.

AJ Burnett, Brad Penny, Dontrelle Willis, Luis Castillo, Derek Lee, Miguel Cabrera, Juan Pierre, Juan Encarnacion are all pretty not-small names

Kevin Brown, Carl Pavano, Al Leiter, Edgar Renteria, Moises Alou, Gary Sheffield

They became big names after they won though. Pudge was known...but guys like Beckett weren't at the time at least from what I remember. Willis was a rookie when they won.

JJ Putz to the Mets in a massive three team deal!

Who cares when they became big names? Your claim was that they won with people no one has ever heard of, to which Breed listed off pretty much a lot of players many people have heard of.

My point was that the Mariners were a star-studded team with 3 first ballot hall of famers (hell, maybe even 2 of the top 10 or 20 best MLB players of all time when everything is said and done) in a strong sports market that underachieved, while a brand new franchise in a lame market with a bunch of no-names (at the time) won 2 titles. And how that sort of thing is frustrating when you're the fan of an underachieving team with high expectations and big name people.

I was referencing a period of time (late 90s and early 00s). The guys on those Marlins teams weren't particularly well known when they won. Even a casual sports fan can probably name a handful of Yankees or Mariners players from the late 90s, the Red Sox of this decade, or other recent World Series winners. But the Marlins? Who actually really remembers anyone who played on either the 97 or 03 teams without consulting wikipedia?

How many members of the Rays could people here name on April 1st, 2008? Compare that to the number of Yankees you could name. That's all I'm saying...it can be uber frustrating when you've assembled a team of great players and expect big things, only to be shown up by a small market team made up of guys who were playing AAA ball last fall.

Mariners lost Sean Green?!! Dammit, there goes what was left of our bullpen.

Totally concur with Whitey's reasoning. You can have it all worked out on paper, but in baseball anything truly can happen. A picture-perfect team can go kaput while a bunch of newbies cleans house. The sport is crazy... but I guess that's one of the reasons it's so great.

aye, agreed

being a Yankee fan in 2003 I can account for the frustration

actually being a Yankee fan for the past 7 years means I can account for the frustration :P

Is it time to start thinking about this already? Wow.

Let's go Ned, no givin' up so quick! ROOT, ROOT ROOT FOR THE HOOOOME TEEEAM GO M'S

I still cheer because the game is fun, not because of the win-loss records

atta boy

i don't really like baseball but i like watching people really care about sport

Royals Reach Agreement With Farnsworth


aaAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAH.

ROYALS EXEC SLIDES A FILE ACROSS THE TABLE TO THE MANAGER



"we need this guy."

By the way, I'm still bitter about Jon Lester not winning the Espy for best moment.

The guy survives cancer and throws a no hitter at Fenway, and loses to some clumsy softball player who hit a home run. Boo.

Haha yeah what the hell. Didn't she break her leg or something going around the bases? Big fuckin' deal. People get injured all the time in sports.

agreed, Lester was robbed, complete bs

My friend tore his ACL and managed to hobble a mile back to his dorm. That little fuckin pussy couldn't even walk an extra 270 feet.

we should start a petition to get Lester that ESPY. not AN ESPY, THAT ONE.

Man... that's pretty impressive. I bet it made his rehab take longer though!

The Mariners had absolutely no pitching beyond Johnson until they got Jamie Moyer, and that still left them with 3 shitty starters (excepting one or two seasons from Freddy Garcia) and possibly the worst bullpens ever. You can't win when your pitching is that terrible. And honestly their hitting wasn't that great during that era either - too focused on the home run. It's really no surprise the Mariners never had great playoff success then. 2001, of course, they have no excuse for, but the years before that, they just weren't that good outside of a couple of individual superstars.

I think the Yankees are INSANE to pay AJ Burnett $82.5 million. One of the most overrated pitchers in baseball. Ditto to the Indians paying Kerry Wood over $10 million a year...what are the odds he stays healthy for even half of that contract? And that's a ton of money for a closer under any circumstances. What the hell.

And I'm none too happy about that 3-team deal involving the Mariners either. Some of those young players better fucking pan out (though with the Mariners' track record, that seems a little much to hope for).

Ugh. Bad offseason so far. I really hope the Mariners manage to dump their big contracts (not people like Putz who are actually playing way, way above their pay grade god dammit).

I didn't realize we had so many M's fans!

I agree 100%. Burnett had maybe one year worth even close to what he's being paid and that's it. I'm pretty sure it'll be Pavano 2.0. And with Wood I found it hilarious how one Mets commentator was annoyed that we signed K-Rod over Wood because "Wood has much better stuff". True or not the guy had a full season in 6 years so it's very risky. Plus I'm happy with the K-rod/Putz combo.



Chavez is pretty much like Reed, so you didn't lose anything there. Heilman might give you a headache but maybe getting away from New York will let him thrive. The only guy you guys really stole from us was one of the young relievers, who throws a nasty 97 mph fastball. He is pretty undeveloped though.

Heilman was usually good for the Mets, but last season he's a major reason why the Mets didn't make the playoffs... and in New York, that means you're off the team next season. If he can be like he was just seasons ago, you've got yourself a good mid-relief guy, or as I've always wanted to see him as, a full fledged starter.

Can you say "Richie Sexson"? How about "Jeff Cirillo"? Or maybe "Erik Bedard"?

Interesting theory, but I tend to agree with Phil: the odds aren't much in our (or his) favor. There's a culture of failure over here these days. It's even a bit like a curse. Everything you transplant quickly shrivels away and dies. Add this bewitching phenomenon to the growing fan base seen even here in this thread, and you have a stong case for dubbing the Mariners the Cubs of the AL. They suck but the fans still stay loyal.

Well...somewhat loyal
http://www.baseball-almanac.com/teams/mariatte.shtml


Yeah, I wasn't too worried about losing Reed, I've pretty much given up on him and think Chavez should be step up. But Putz and Green were our bullpen. And yeah, Ned hit the nail on the head when he said the Seattle isn't a place anyone comes to thrive, except maybe Jamie Moyer.

holy shit that ok blue jays song is fantastic

During the 7th inning stretch, everyone in the stadium starts singing it. It's awesome.

Teixeira to Yankees.

Bonds to Yankees.

edit: i cant even joke about that

http://seattle.mariners.mlb.com/news...=.jsp&c_id=sea

The only difference between this year and last: this year at least we know going in that we're going to royally suck.

Seriously, it's the same team as last year only without Ibañez driving in the occasional pointless run. We still have the same horrible four our of five starting pitchers as always... how is this supposed to be an improvement?

I hope the Mets and Indians enjoy our fresh meat while we chew on this jerky.

You have King Felix and Ichiro, don't forget.

Not enough but two very good players.

I say pick up Griffey and trade Ichiro. I still think he's part of the problem over there

Ichiro is aging and I still won't forgive Felix for that fucking grand slam.

Best moment of our season.

Yeah I tore down my Ichiro poster after this season. :( Junior as DH would freaking sell season tickets around here, even if the team does end up with another 100+ losses by the end.

TUNA, are you still all out for the Mets or are you like a Blue Jays fan too?

I am a Mets fan, but I cheer the Jays just because of location.

Hoffman to Brewers? Smoltz to Red Sox? WHAT IS GOING ON BASEBALL?

I blame Breed.

Sounds reasonable.

not denying it

It's going to be even better when he's injured for half the year.

-

5 days till spring training :3

We'll save a special spot on the DL just for him.

So the AL East is going to be a blast this year

agreed, its going to be a lot of fun

hell the whole season is gonna be great!!!

IM JUST SO HAPPY ITS BACK :3

should we do predictions for division winners?

I'm going to say...

AL East: Red Sox
AL Central: White Sox
AL West: Angels
Wild Card: Yankees

NL East: Mets
NL Central: Cubs
NL West: Dodgers
Wild Card: Phillies

Red Sox over Dodgers in the World Series. I hope.

AL Central seems like a tossup. And I pick the Mets reluctantly. For obvious reasons.

AL E: Yankees
AL C: Twins
AL W: Angels
ALWC: Red Sox

NL E: Mets
NL C: Cubs
NL W: Dodgers
NLWC: Phillies

I smell a NY team in the World Series, either way

AL East: Devil Rays
AL Central: White Sox
AL West: Angels (ugh)
AL Wild Card: Yankees
NL East: Phillies
NL Central: Cardinals
NL West: Padres
NL Wild Card: Mets

World Series: Phillies over Angels

philly sucked it up tonight.

Lowe was unstoppable. It was great

198 more strikeouts till Howard hits the elusive 200.

hahAHAHAHAH.

Myers has always been terrible on Opening Day. In fact, the whole team is terrible on Opening Day. Did not expect a win.

NL East: Phillies
NL Central: Cubs
NL West: Dodgers
Wild Card: Mets

Dodgers over Phillies
Cubs over Mets

Dodgers over Cubs

NL MVP: David Wright
NL Cy Young: Cole Hamels

AL East: Rays
AL Central: Indians
AL West: Angels
Wild Card: Yankees

AL MVP: BJ Upton
AL Cy Young: CC Sabathia

Yankees over Angels
Rays over Indians

Yankees over Rays

Dodgers over Yankees

Rays won't get that far again. maybe first round.

Blue Jays and Rays will eliminate Boston and Yankees from playoff contention. GO JAYS GO!


Mets have failed at the beginning... yet again. Hopefully they can turn it around.

The Nationals are a disgrace.

Record: 3-10

Then this:

http://www.faniq.com/blog/Washington...als-Blog-22464





Now this:

http://www.freep.com/article/2009042...El ijah+Dukes

BLUE JAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SO NED CARLSON... how about them Mariners?

zach greinke.... are you kidding me.

FUCK YEAH! KC ROYALS FOR WORLD SERIES.

YIKES. Anyone see Rick Ankiel slam his head into the wall?

I DID.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4138797

(VIDEO)

C'mon guys, my M's are still in the lead in the AL West, YOU'RE ALL SLACKING

The New York Mets - The Best .500 Team in Baseball

as a Mets fan. I'd like to say Santana is an OK pitcher for the best pitcher in baseball.


and David Wright likes men.

Way to jinx it. Now we're a half game back.

Halladay is the best pitcher in baseball... but Santana was NL pitcher of the month and just shut out the World Series champs.

and yes, Wright does like men.

Halladay is the best pitcher EASILY. And not just this year, but for the past several years.

and Santana is really, really awesome.

and yes, Wright does like men

and the Yankees are a joke this year.

For being the "best pitcher" Halladay sure has been mediocre lately.

AGREED.

And who says Mets and Phillies fans can't get along?

Aaaahahaha. Sorry Breed.

I wonder how the Dodgers will handle this

what a fucking piece of shit tool

my fantasy numbers are fucked

Manny being Manny.
YEAH, CUZ WHEN YOU'RE THE BEST, YOU ALWAYS HAVE TO DO WELL AND CAN NEVER HAVE AN OFF DAY.

Or 4.

haha

Sounds pretty bad...I'm not coming up with a whole lotta legitimate reasons for him to have been taking this. Ugh. When this is all over, I wonder if any slugger from the past 15 years is gonna come out unsullied.

Manny has been under suspicion for roids for awhile now.

It was one of the main reasons he couldn't get the years he wanted on his contract.

I think we can all agree as long as Griffey is clean we can still have hope

I am wondering about Pujols now :(