Joe Mauer signs an 8 year $184 million extension with a full no trade clause. As a Yankee fan I am glad because I didn't want them to get him and have a 250 million payroll.
I'm interested to see how long Mauer stays behind the plate before his knees force a position change and the Twinkies pay 20 mil for a 1st basemen who only hits 20-25 hrs . No matter how this plays out long term, having a talent such as Mauer locked up puts the Twins in line to build a perennial power. Thankfully my Cubs lucked out and grabbed the other sure fire talent in the '01 draft: Mark Prior.
I remember that. Luckily, the Reds don't have any young pitchers for Dusty to destroy. .......oh, wait. FUCK
Twins fan here... easy answer: Nope. He's streaky as hell and has some of the worst Ks you will ever see (obviously talking to, and smelling, his bat all the time doesn't work too much). He frustrated Twins fans with a ton a talent and some flashes of brilliance, then a complete fucking catastrophe the next game. Oh yeah, and remember the last time he was in Milwaukee? Sounds like a great omen to me!
Sadly that's kind of what I figured we'd be seeing. And that ghost story still cracks me up. Carlos, stay away from the Pfister!
Opening day is on Sunday night and I'm pumped for this season. Beckett is about to sign a 4-year extension and Lackey has looked great. With the all mighty Wakefield anchoring the rotation it won't matter that the Red Sox didn't add any offense in the off season.
Is it just me or has Sabathia gained 30 pounds from last season. I watched him all last year, I don't remember him this big.
The Cardinals offense looks great this year. Pujols has 2 home runs on Opening Day (again), Rasmus hits a huge bomb, and Molina hits a grand slam. The only thing that makes me nervous regarding the Cardinals going deep in the playoffs this year is the bullpen. Franklin is just terrible, and I'm not going to feel comfortable with any lead until the Cardinals make a trade for a more consistent closer.
How about that first at bat. I was so pissed I wasn't sure when to draft him in our fantasy draft and he went in the sixth round!! He's not even IN some of the fantasy guides.
One thing you want to keep in mind with young talented hitters is that pitchers don't have a strategy for them yet. Will he swing at a pitch high in the zone, or a sinker. Can you jam him up pitching inside to him. Hayward definately has a lot of talent, but you need a lot more than a great swing to become an elite hitter. It will be fun to watch and see how Heyward develops throughout the season.
Heyward has a great swing and approach, as soon as he gets experience he will be worth watching. Until he gathers that experience though, look to see a lot of low and inside sliders since Marmol pantsed him in the 9th yesterday. Anyone else ready to watch Soriano sit on the bench and make 18 mil while Tyler Colvin shows fans what a left fielder actually looks like?
Key thing to watch for with Heyward is the type of adjustments he makes at the plate. Part of the reason he's such a lauded prospect, in addition to his man-child size, is a seemingly advanced plate-discipline. For now he's going to see a steady diet of breaking pitches, everyone realizes he can sit on a fastball and crush it. When he took Zambrano deep he was sitting fastball, something like 13 of the previous 14 pitches had come in hard, wasn't difficult to guess what was coming next. He'll have games like today when he struggles, watch for how he reacts & how teams pitch to him. I'd think some line-up shuffling would benefit, there's no reason he should be batting ahead of Ross & the pitcher like today, there's also no reason Melky should be leading off. I'd think if they put Prado at 1 and slotted Heyward 2 in front of chipper & mccann he'd be better off, but Prado "looks like a #2 hitter", so I doubt that will happen. Hudson looked sharp on the mound today, good to have him back in the rotation.
Is it a surprise to see him back so soon? I heard he might stay in the bullpen until as late as the All-Star break. Or did I get faulty information?
For someone fairly new into the sport, you've already made a key observation. The talking heads are already babbling about Vernon Wells, Teixeira and Big Papi, and I actually heard discussion of batting averages before the third game of the season was over. Talking about stats or trends any sooner than the end of April is completely assinine. Vernon Wells could easily finish the year with only 20 home runs, and Ortiz could hit 60. The current sample size is just too small. I've been following the Heyward saga as well - while I think it would be great to see him kick ass, lets all settle down and let the guy get a couple of hundred at bats under his belt. Speaking of babbling, the Buck and McCarver are calling the Yanks game on TV today. They may be one of the worst broadcast teams of all time, but I've heard Buck bust McCarver twice in 15 minutes for the stupid shit that came out of his mouth. Maybe things are lookign up at FOX this year.
Quick article on TalkingChop today that addresses this point: <a class="postlink" href="http://www.talkingchop.com/2010/4/10/1413870/a-look-at-jason-heywards-strike" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.talkingchop.com/2010/4/10/14 ... rds-strike</a>