The 2007 Major League Baseball Thread

[wildcoyote]

I haven\'t been this excited about a baseball season in a while.

Let me go on record early and say I am thrilled with the Yanks off season moves.

Randy needed to go.  I don\'t care about his win totals.  With that line up behind him, a decent pitcher should win 15 games.  Too often he got shelled real bad, real early, draining the bullpen for the rest of a series.  He was too often ineffective at 43 years old.  What reason do we have to think it will improve this year? His stats may improve against softer NL lineups, and he\'ll probably be happier back in AZ, but regardless- good riddance.

I hate to say this but unloading Sheffield made sense too.  I think he\'s still got a great bat, but with the aquistion of Abreu, something had to give.  His annual contract circus is also a distraction they don\'t need.  Scouts say the Yanks received a decent haul of young pitching in return, so I\'m all for this.  While I\'d boo Johnson, I\'ll give Sheff a standing O.  

It hurts to write this, but Bernie belongs at home this year.  My understanding of the situation was that they brought him back last year after a terrible 2005 for one last hurrah.  That was it.  Last year he didn\'t suck.  That\'s really all you could say.  His defense was actually worse, but expectations were lowered and he wasn\'t starting in CF anymore so he got a pass.  He hit .281 (.768 ops) with 12 homers in 420 AB\'s.  Not exactly DH material when you have Giambi around and your rivals have David Ortiz and Frank Thomas.  What else could they do with him? Melky needs AB\'s too.  Retire his number, put up a monument, but Bernie needs to understand there are limited roster slots, and he is no longer one of their 25 best.

Opening Day in 1 month!

[Me!]

I have been itching for baseball for awhile very excited for this season.  Boston\'s pitching is looking better than it has in a few years.  Bring it on.

[FrankZappa]

we started editing mlb this week for spring training games. :banana:

Theres a great \'this is sportscenter\' comercial coming out soon. Posada and Ortiz are sitting at a table and Ortiz is making fun of him because his hat needs to be broken in so Ortiz takes the Yankee hat and shows him how to break it in. a minute later the green monster is walking down the hall delivering tapes and looks in to see Ortiz wearing the Yankee hat and freaks out.

predictions for this year: Red sox will win a bunch of games, so will the yankees, mark will still be rooting for the cardinals and pitchy will still be rooting for the mets. Wolf will write a big long breakdown about something and a lot of little fights will break out. Oh, and the sox beat the cubs in 5 games to take the pennant, chicago is destroyed in the ensuing riots. I\'m calling it now.

I can\'t wait. [banana]go soxs![/banana]

[Mark]

It was great to flip through the channels and see some baseball on last night. Paul-your predictions are right on, and I love those This is Sportcenter spots. The one with Eli and Peyton was classic.

[booztravlr]

^ go soxs...as is go both red and white sox?

I jumped on for the beginning of summer phish tour \'03 (phoenix, san diego, mtn. view, gorge) and on my flight from phoenix to san diego i left my hat on the plane. when we landed i decided to pick up a new one, which happened to be a padres hat. i was always sick of watching the yankees, mets, and red sox. because of this i never really gave baseball a chance. i figured it was time i picked up a team and started getting into the sport. since then i have become a big fan of the padres and baseball as a whole and plan on ordering the mlb ticket from directv this year. i had the mlb radio the past 3 seasons but that just doesnt cut it anymore.

i feel good about the padres chances this year. maddux is going to be a great addition to their rotation and he will also play a key role in further developing peavy and young. wells is a good #5 starter and if people get hurt i am sure he can step up his role. i am surprised they dealt barfield. he was fantastic last year and they werent going to pay him shit for the next couple years. however i feel giles will be a solid 2b for them. i am glad they finally got rid of klesko but i am sure they will miss having roberts leading off. the man may be old but he is still very fast and plays well in CF. they have one of the best bullpens in the league and fortunately they realized keeping linebrick was a much better option than trying to get randy johnson. the left side of their infield is going to be a little shaky until people settle into their positions.

each division has won the world series over the last 6 years and it all started out with the diamondbacks from the nl west. hopefully that means another team emerges from this div in the fall. dodgers are always contenders and the giants should be too but theyre old and i dont think theyll have the endurance to last. diamondbacks should be better but i think this race will come down to two teams in september, dodgers and padres. hopefully they can pull their third straight div champs.

i look forward to seeing a-rod in a padres uniform at SS in \'08.        :duck:

[FrankZappa]

^ go soxs...as is go both red and white sox?

:no: :asskicked :sigh: :doh: :point: :slap:

Red Sox broseph, Red Sox.

[booztravlr]

thats what i assumed. it just had an \'s\' after the sox, so i had to ask.

[FreeSpirit]

predictions for this year: Red sox will win a bunch of games, so will the yankees, mark will still be rooting for the cardinals and pitchy will still be rooting for the mets. Wolf will write a big long breakdown about something and a lot of little fights will break out. Oh, and the sox beat the cubs in 5 games to take the pennant, chicago is destroyed in the ensuing riots. I\'m calling it now.

rotfl soooo true! :lol:

[ChrisPitch]

Oh yeah! Yesterday\'s 4-3 win against St. Louis completely erases any memory of the Mets gag job in last year\'s NLCS. You don\'t fuck with the Mets in Florida!

In other words, here we go again.

[leith]

^ go soxs...as is go both red and white sox?

I jumped on for the beginning of summer phish tour \'03 (phoenix, san diego, mtn. view, gorge) and on my flight from phoenix to san diego i left my hat on the plane. when we landed i decided to pick up a new one, which happened to be a padres hat. i was always sick of watching the yankees, mets, and red sox. because of this i never really gave baseball a chance. i figured it was time i picked up a team and started getting into the sport. since then i have become a big fan of the padres and baseball as a whole and plan on ordering the mlb ticket from directv this year. i had the mlb radio the past 3 seasons but that just doesnt cut it anymore.

i feel good about the padres chances this year. maddux is going to be a great addition to their rotation and he will also play a key role in further developing peavy and young. wells is a good #5 starter and if people get hurt i am sure he can step up his role. i am surprised they dealt barfield. he was fantastic last year and they werent going to pay him shit for the next couple years. however i feel giles will be a solid 2b for them. i am glad they finally got rid of klesko but i am sure they will miss having roberts leading off. the man may be old but he is still very fast and plays well in CF. they have one of the best bullpens in the league and fortunately they realized keeping linebrick was a much better option than trying to get randy johnson. the left side of their infield is going to be a little shaky until people settle into their positions.

each division has won the world series over the last 6 years and it all started out with the diamondbacks from the nl west. hopefully that means another team emerges from this div in the fall. dodgers are always contenders and the giants should be too but theyre old and i dont think theyll have the endurance to last. diamondbacks should be better but i think this race will come down to two teams in september, dodgers and padres. hopefully they can pull their third straight div champs.

i look forward to seeing a-rod in a padres uniform at SS in \'08.        :duck:

OH HOT DAMN! There is another Padre fan!  This is gonna be a fun year.

Pads are loookin\' gooood!!!! I do believe they are going to follow up the franchise\'s first back to back Division Championships w/ a third.

Oh and Kahlil will have to screw up big time to lose his job. A-Rod costs to much for too little.

[FrankZappa]

well, just edited the copyright (cannot be rebroadcast without the express written concent of the commisioner of baseball thing) again for espn and I\'m happy to announce that for the 3rd consecutive year, the RED sox and mets are well supported while there is not a trace of the yankees to be seen. :hehehe:

This was just the spring training footage one, so we get to do it all over again in a few weeks for regular season games.

[wildcoyote]

well, just edited the copyright (cannot be rebroadcast without the express written concent of the commisioner of baseball thing) again for espn and I\'m happy to announce that for the 3rd consecutive year, the RED sox and mets are well supported while there is not a trace of the yankees to be seen. :hehehe:

There\'s not a trace of the Yankees in the copyright you edited for ESPN?  Heh?  :hscratch:

[booztravlr]

khalil greene will def have to do a lot to lose his starting job but beyond his amazing defense, i am not sold on him. since has become a starter (3 seasons) he has only fielded in 136, 121 and 113 games. thats a bad decline. he has weak bones, as his coaches are always telling him to intake more calcium, and he gets the oddest injuries. he has averaged 15hr, 64rbi, and 91k a year. his BA has gone from .273, .250, .245. i dont think that is the kind of offense (or health) you want in a SS. the left side of the infield is usually where additional power in your lineup comes from and the padres just dont have that power. i cant say much about kouzmanoff as this is his first chance at a starting job this year. i am excited to see gonzalez breakout at first and i am hoping cameron has adjusted to the bigger outfield and is ready for a big year.

[Mark]

I think we should arrange a .info day at the park!

[Klout]

sox fans = wicked retaahdid