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2010 MLB Season

Discussion in 'Sports Board' started by Beefy Phil, Mar 2, 2010.

  1. Beefy Phil

    Beefy Phil
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    Grapefruit League starts today, Cactus League starts tomorrow. I'm about to turn on the Mets. That's how desperate I am for baseball. April 4th can't come soon enough.


    Focus: You know the drill. Do work.
     
  2. Elset

    Elset
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    While the Tigers exhibition season technically doesn't start until tomorrow, they are playing Florida Southern College today. I'm following the box score while I'm at work. Lots of question marks this year. Even more "hoping for comeback years".
     
  3. zyron

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    What do you feel about Johnny Damon? If I was the Tigers I would rather have Granderson. I was hoping Damon would come back to Yankees but I knew with Boras it was not going to happen. Wait till you watch him in the outfield, noodle arm is being generous.
     
  4. Elset

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    I think most people here would rather have Granderson, but my understanding is that we traded him because the next few years will see drastic increases in his salary. As far as I'm concerned, Granderson should have been considered untouchable to the Tigers. Yeah last year he kinda sucked offensively (especially against lefties) but he has shown lots of ability that suggests that wouldn't become the norm. What's more is his presence in the community, and his former status of face of the franchise. I would've liked him to stick around. Oh well, I guess. Yankee Stadium will do nothing but improve his stats I think.

    Damon doesn't bring much to our outfield defense, which was already pretty weak with Guillen and Ordonez in the corners, but he has a lot to offer in the lineup. I think only one of our regular players bats lefty, and that's Guillen who is switch. Plus, having him at one of the top two spots in the order means we don't have two rookies there (Austin Jackson and Scott Sizemore). At this point, Leyland's saying Damon will bat second, and while he won't be able to fill Polanco's shoes at getting on base, it'll be nice to have someone who has proven that he can get on consistently for the middle of our order.

    I'd say we're definitely a better team with Damon, than without (probably better yet with Granderson, than Damon). That being said I didn't have a strong desire to bring him here. Especially with the way it happened, there was a whole lot of drama going on around it.

    The general consensus on the sports radio shows in Detroit that I listen to was about the same as this, which is where I drew most of my inspiration.
     
  5. erk33

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    Well no shit most people would rather have the 28 year old with a 7 WAR season under his belt already.

    Granderson's season was kinda strange. His line drive rate increased, but his infield fly ball percentage almost tripled, and his BABIP dipped, likely because of the INFB%, 50 points below his career average leading to his abysmal BA.

    He gives you the ability to DH Guillen, Ordonez, and Miggy, and can occasionally play some center if Jackson struggles at the plate. He has no arm whatsoever. It's gotten worse sense his days in Boston, which is almost impossible.

    How are you possibly a better team with Damon/Jackson this year than with Granderson? Jackson is very likely going to struggle as he has not played a game in the MLB yet. You lose a players who has posted a 7 WAR season just two years ago, and replaced him with Damon, a below average defender at best in a big outfield at Comerica Park. You better hope that Jackson's offense is good enough to keep him on the field, because if you're looking at an outfield of Guillen, Ordonez, and Johnny Damon in center, you're season is fucked.

    And on another note: Gammons just raves about Granderson whenever he talks about him. Somethings and be quantified by stats. The Detroit community will really miss him.
     
  6. Elset

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    I was saying we're a better team than we were 2 weeks ago. Accepting that the Granderson trade had already happened.
     
  7. Guy Fawkes

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    The rotation is set (fingers crossed that my boy Wake gets in as the 5th man) the defense is improved(?) meh according to Theo it is but I'd still rather have Bay in left than Ellsbury moving over.

    I'm almost dreading the start of the season if the Red Sox bats don't immediately start blistering balls out of the park. Everyone is going to be screaming about AGoz but little do these pseudo fans know that it takes two (or more) teams to make a trade, not just the Sox offering up a bunch of scrubs. Sox fans seem to think that AGoz coming here is an automatic but these same fans don't think a package containing Buchholz, Bard, and XXX will need to be given up to get him. All it takes is 5 minutes of local sports radio Sawx Talk to realize why so many other fans hate Boston.
     
  8. erk33

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    I can't wait for the callers on WEEI to get going with it. "Do you think the Twins would entertain a David Ortiz-Mauer trade?" or "the SS position has been lacking for a while, and Kevin Youkilis has shown the ability to play multiple positions, why haven't the Sox tried him out there?" calls. And believe it or not, these are both just about word for word actual calls made by full grown human beings.
     
  9. travdiddy84

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    Yeah, I'd like to bring your attention to the Braves' new right fielder, Jason Heyward. He's only 20, and has so much power that he has been smashing car windows in the parking lot during batting practice.

    <a class="postlink" href="http://blogs.ajc.com/atlanta-braves-blog/2010/02/25/call-them-the-jason-heyward-nets/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://blogs.ajc.com/atlanta-braves-blo ... ward-nets/</a>
     
  10. Dynamite Harry

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    White Sox fan here, and I expect a pretty good season from them this year. The rotation is solid (don't see Freddy Garcia going the full year though), bullpen looks good for the most part, and I think they made some good moves at the end of last year (hopefully Rios bounces back) and this off-season.

    Still debating how I feel about the "rotating DH" situation. I would have preferred they brought back Thome or signed another left handed power bat, but it's got potential to work. If nothing else they'll stay fresh.
     
  11. AbsentMindedProf

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    I'm an Indians fan, and as such I have to get excited for the season for different reasons. I don't expect them to contend, but hopefully we will see some good development out of our younger guys. My biggest concern is the pitching rotation. There is no consistent peformers there, just question marks. However, it's the beginning of the baseball season so there's hope that Fausta Carmona gets that sinker that made batters dizzy back.
     
  12. Kratos

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    Thome will be in our rotating DH spot this year. My team has consistently used this mentality and it hasn't been too bad for us (granted my team does not focus on power as much as smallball), I'm guessing the White Sox will be ok. But hey, I can look at it this way, we really needed a right hand power bat, and we got another lefthanded one (because we don't have any of those already...)

    I've never been so pumped for a season to start. Some new additions to the team, the opening of Target Field and getting out of the shitty dome; god this summer will be exciting.

    EDIT: Here's a view from the 3rd base side at night. I really like the view of DT Murderapolis. You can see the Target Center there at the tip of the foul pole.

    [​IMG]
     
  13. dubyu tee eff

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    Dude, trust me, this is not limited to Boston. I don't know why the selection pool of people who call in to sports talk radio is so fucking retarded. Listening to talk radio around here (NYC area) makes me want to commit terrorist acts. If the team gets on a 3 game winning streak, they are obviously going to win the world series, Girardi is a genius, Sabathia is the best pitcher in baseball, A-Rod is the greatest hitter of all time. If they have a three game losing streak then the team has terrible chemistry, Girardi is a shit manager (they said this about Torre too), Sabathia is overworked and out of shape, and A-Rod can't handle New York. The only constant things are love for Jeter and Mo. Though I guarantee this changes within a year or two and every time Mo blows a save and Jeter gets into a cold spell or commits an error, they are over the hill.

    Also, is there any team out there with as good a shot as the Yankees of winning the world series? I don't think so. Mayyybe the Red Sox if they get Adrian Gonzales and manage to get him without losing someone big like a Clay Bucholz.
     
  14. Sherwood

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    "Why don't the Yanks trade Hughes, Chamberlain and Melky for Halladay, Toronto really likes Hughes' arm, they'd totally do that deal" - About 30% of the callers to 660 last year.
     
  15. Elset

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    Apparently this is universal. Every summer since and including 2006 has been like this. Even the hosts get into it, and it's really tiring. They're great. They suck. They're great. ugh
     
  16. travis

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    Ok, I was planning on buying the MLB Extra Innings package this year, and I just found out that my cable provider (AT&T) doesn't have it. Fuck me.

    I'm not very good with computers, so I have a question. I know there is an MLB.tv package I could buy online. Is it possible to buy that for my computer, then hook my computer up to my TV, and watch games that way?

    I'm a big Dodger fan, and I've heard this might be Vin Scully's last year announcing, so I really want to be able to watch as many Dodger games as possible. Also, I'm really tired of listening to the fucking Padre's announcers.

    So if anyone knows if that's possible, or if there's a better way to watch Dodger games, any help would be appreciated. Thanks.
     
  17. Elset

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    Yes, it's possible. My TV has a VGA input that I use to connect to my computer.
     
  18. The Chairman

    The Chairman
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    And if you don't have a VGA input, MLB now has a deal with Roku that will allow you to watch the games on your TV. Roku's also good if you're a Netflix subscriber. It's gonna cost you a little bit more than a simple VGA cable, but it's not prohibitively expensive.

    <a class="postlink" href="http://www.roku.com/roku-products" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.roku.com/roku-products</a>
     
  19. 555deal

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    AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMEN. For the rest of you, you have one year left to listen to one of the top 5 sportscasters of all time. Do yourself a favor and watch Dodger games (only West of Texas though. Vin doesn't mess with those east coast bitches, he sends Chris and Snoop).

    For Travis, the MLBTV is pretty good, but don't skimp get the best one. The upgrade in video quality is worth it. Also IF you have an Iphone then the MLB App is amazing and even gives you the choice of listening to the home or away broadcast teams. So you can still get Vinny when they're in the East.

    They have ascended to #1 on the awful announcing scale now that Hudler & Physioc have been broken up.
     
  20. Rudolph

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    Brewers fan here. I'm glad to see a surplus of arms in camp this year so we don't have a repeat of 2009 when a few starting pitchers go down and there's no one in the bullpen or AAA to replace them. Couple big question marks for the team:

    1. Can CF Carlos Gomez play some manner of offense to go with his defense?
    2. Did 3B Casey McGehee have a fluke of a year last year, or can he be counted on for .301/.360/.499 with 16 dingers every year.
    3. Does C Gregg Zaun have the coolest website intro ever?