Around Baseball 2017

[John_Havok]

I want to see great baseball in the post season, and while the Twins have some good young talent, they aren't on the level of their counterparts. Even the Yankees are a complete rung above them and they are the other WC team.

 

What's good for baseball is the Yankees becoming good again. The league needs marketable stars in big markets and they can sell Aaron Judge as a star. It sucks, but if the Jays are not in it, then might as well root for baseball to prosper. That won't happen with the Twins/Astros ALCS.

 

Sure, until the Yankees/Dodgers world series when every dinosaur on the planet will resurrect every s***** baseball cliche for months and proclaim it a throwback to the good old days.

[Muck Bartinez]

There's a poll on Jeff Sullivan's article today, and 68% of respondents have voted that the Twins winning the WS this year would be good for baseball. I'm surprised by that. I hate the idea of a mediocre team winning it all. What's the point of building great teams if that happens?

 

I think it would be awesome if the Twins won it all, but only if they played great baseball in the playoffs to do it. It would suck for them to run into injured teams and sort of sneak their way to a title. They have literally no chance of winning, but I like the Twins, so maybe I'm not really answering what the question is actually asking. If the Rangers were in their spot, I'd hate for them to win.

[BTS]

The Yankees are a fun team. I'll probably be rooting for Cleveland to come out of the AL, but New York would also be nice. A lineup featuring two young superstars, a legit ACE, one of my personal favourite pitchers as #2, and an absolutely loaded bullpen. Lots there to like, regardless of what types of players you enjoy.

[Dr. Dinger]

Sonny Gray is one of your personal favs?

[glory]

Brian Cashman could write a damn book on how to retool based on the trades he made in the past 2-3 years.

 

Didi, Hicks, Castro, Green, Chapman, Gray, Frazier.....damn. Can't hate on them. Seems like the moment Steinbrenner's kids wanted to go below the lux tax, suddenly Cashman became a wizard.

[Sammy225]

The Yankees are a fun team. I'll probably be rooting for Cleveland to come out of the AL, but New York would also be nice. A lineup featuring two young superstars, a legit ACE, one of my personal favourite pitchers as #2, and an absolutely loaded bullpen. Lots there to like, regardless of what types of players you enjoy.

 

I am cheering for the Twins just because they have always been my 2nd fav team basically just due to proximity and my first ever jersey being Kirby Puckett.

[BTS]

Sonny Gray is one of your personal favs?

 

I guess Gray is ahead of Tanaka on the depth chart you pedant.

[Captain Adama]

There's a poll on Jeff Sullivan's article today, and 68% of respondents have voted that the Twins winning the WS this year would be good for baseball. I'm surprised by that. I hate the idea of a mediocre team winning it all. What's the point of building great teams if that happens?

 

I guess you could argue the entertainment comes from the shock factor of a mediocre team like the Twins beating any of the superpowers in the AL. Which I can understand normally. But the Twins this year are just so.....boring.

[Boxcar]

I guess you could argue the entertainment comes from the shock factor of a mediocre team like the Twins beating any of the superpowers in the AL. Which I can understand normally. But the Twins this year are just so.....boring.

 

The Twins have always been boring. Even when they were a decent team 8-9 years ago, they were still super boring.

 

Their landmark hometown franchise player was a slap hitting catcher with average-below average speed.

[Bobthe4th]

I guess you could argue the entertainment comes from the shock factor of a mediocre team like the Twins beating any of the superpowers in the AL. Which I can understand normally. But the Twins this year are just so.....boring.

 

You can't tell me that you don't want to see Bartolo Colon pitch (and hit) in the World Series!

[Abomination]

You can't tell me that you don't want to see Bartolo Colon pitch (and hit) in the World Series!

 

Oh yes we can

[John_Havok]

You can't tell me that you don't want to see Bartolo Colon pitch (and hit) in the World Series!

 

Doubt he would even make the roster even if they made it that far

[TheHurl]

Happy Deck McGuire starting day everyone!

[Abomination]

Bauer may be an ass, but this is both awesome and funny:

 

"I was flying at the park, and about a minute in, I bumped the ground and the GoPro came loose, but I didn’t realize it because the drone stayed in the air," he said Tuesday. "I kept flying, and at the end of flight about a minute later, at a completely different part of the park, the drone crashed. It just landed basically."

Bauer was unable to locate the drone. On Tuesday, he posted a message on Twitter asking the person who took it to return it as soon as possible.

It’s one of two drones Bauer owns.

"If I don’t get it back, I’ll have to make a third one," Bauer said with a smile. "And no Cleveland fan wants me to be building a drone right now."

 

http://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/mlb/indians-pitcher-trevor-bauer-loses-drone-park/

[Orgfiller]

The Twins have always been boring. Even when they were a decent team 8-9 years ago, they were still super boring.

 

Their landmark hometown franchise player was a slap hitting catcher with average-below average speed.

 

Come on, there's no need to downplay Joe Mauer like that. Opinions on boring/exciting are subjective, and while I agree the Twins generally are pretty boring, prime Joe Mauer wasn't. Elite bat control is fun and when it comes from a historically offensively anemic position it's even more exciting, it's not like he was slapping the ball into the ground and hoping to beat it with his speed.

[jaysblue]

Come on, there's no need to downplay Joe Mauer like that. Opinions on boring/exciting are subjective, and while I agree the Twins generally are pretty boring, prime Joe Mauer wasn't. Elite bat control is fun and when it comes from a historically offensively anemic position it's even more exciting, it's not like he was slapping the ball into the ground and hoping to beat it with his speed.

 

Mauer & Morneau were a pretty good hitting tandem in their primes. Also, can't forget Jason Kubel lol.

[Orgfiller]

Mauer & Morneau were a pretty good hitting tandem in their primes. Also, can't forget Jason Kubel lol.

 

Man I just realized how much a travesty Morneau's 2006 MVP was. Like holy f***, there were many far more deserving candidates, Mauer his teammate being one of them. The NL had the same issue though I would argue not as egregious.

 

MVP voters are the worst.

[John_Havok]

Man I just realized how much a travesty Morneau's 2006 MVP was. Like holy f***, there were many far more deserving candidates, Mauer his teammate being one of them. The NL had the same issue though I would argue not as egregious.

 

MVP voters are the worst.

 

Not sure how Sizemore didn't win that year. Not enough RBI I guess....Crazy s***

[Orgfiller]

Not sure how Sizemore didn't win that year. Not enough RBI I guess....Crazy s***

 

He won because of his average and RBI, just ridiculous stuff. Hell Big Papi had more HR and more RBI but he didn't have that elusive .300+ avridge

[John_Havok]

He won because of his average and RBI, just ridiculous stuff. Hell Big Papi had more HR and more RBI but he didn't have that elusive .300+ avridge

 

Travis Hafner beasted that year too.

[burlingtonbandit]

Surprised Jeter didn't win it tbh

[TheHurl]

Not sure how Sizemore didn't win that year. Not enough RBI I guess....Crazy s***

 

come on now baserunning and defensive stats didn't even exist at the time. Sizemore on offense alone would have been a horrible choice. Especially since they looked at winning teams first and Cleveland was near the bottom. Jeter was probably the one ripped off that year based on the playoff teams.

[Drumcliff]

come on now baserunning and defensive stats didn't even exist at the time. Sizemore on offense alone would have been a horrible choice. Especially since they looked at winning teams first and Cleveland was near the bottom. Jeter was probably the one ripped off that year based on the playoff teams.

And, also, a number of guys putting up the big numbers in 2006 were fricken DHs, like Ortiz, Thomas and Hafner. I'm not voting a DH for MVP. Really, the guy who had the biggest gripe was probably Jeter, and there's little reason to feel sorry for him as, for a career, he got his butt kissed more than anyone.

[Dr. Dinger]

J.D. Martinez is a f***ing god.

[Terminator]

Man I just realized how much a travesty Morneau's 2006 MVP was. Like holy f***, there were many far more deserving candidates, Mauer his teammate being one of them. The NL had the same issue though I would argue not as egregious.

 

MVP voters are the worst.

 

I'll never forget that year. It was one of the first MVPs after I caught on to advanced stats. Morneau was the third most deserving candidate on his own team after Mauer and Johan Santana. I remember I wrote Buster Olney telling him how stupid he was for voting for Morneau and my argument was based largely on positional importance. Olney replied that not only did he take positional importance in to account but that it favored Morneau because for a small market team, the 1B for the Twins HAS to drive in a lot of runs. So not only was Morneau really good at driving in runs, he did so under extreme amounts of pressure. He ended up writing an article on it but I can't find it. I've hated Olney ever since.

[Boxcar]

Man I just realized how much a travesty Morneau's 2006 MVP was. Like holy f***, there were many far more deserving candidates, Mauer his teammate being one of them. The NL had the same issue though I would argue not as egregious.

 

MVP voters are the worst.

 

Damn, Grady Sizemore literally more than doubled Morneau's WAR total that year.

[Captain Adama]

Prime Grady Sizemore was a monster. Too bad injuries destroyed his career.

[Dr. Dinger]

Damn, Grady Sizemore literally more than doubled Morneau's WAR total that year.

 

Did WAR exist in 2006 though? I don't think it did.

[Captain Adama]

Did WAR exist in 2006 though? I don't think it did.

 

I think so? In 2002 IIRC it became available to the public. Either that or FIP.

[Deadpool]

Man I just realized how much a travesty Morneau's 2006 MVP was. Like holy f***, there were many far more deserving candidates, Mauer his teammate being one of them. The NL had the same issue though I would argue not as egregious.

 

MVP voters are the worst.

 

Pedroia's MVP was the same deal... Kevin Youklis, for example, was better that season.

 

Yep, the worst.