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Hot Stove Part II

MrRain422

By MrRain422,
in Tongue-Tied Lightning

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Leo

Leo

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No posts during the first few games of ST? The Marlins are playing the University of Miami and are up 7-2 right now. Miguel Cabrera went deep in his first ST at bat against Florida Southern College with the Tigers.

 

The "real" games begin tomorrow or the day after. Baseball season is getting close.

A 450 foot bomb!! HELL YEAH!

Granted, it was off a college pitcher. But, still . . . Let's GO.

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jmacomber68w

jmacomber68w

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just reading bout colon gets me all pumped for baseball season so i can ignore football for good, i like the move pitching wins championships, pitching wins championships (hey every little bit counts), its sort of like how defense wins championships in footbal PATRIOTS

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bobbob1313

bobbob1313

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Am I the only one who thinks the Tigers are going to be overrated this year? I've heard people talking about them in the same breath as Murderer's Row, and that is absolutely ridiculous. Cabrera is one of the 5 best hitters in the game, but I don't see the strength of the lineup otherwise. I don't think Granderson is going to OPS 1.000 against righties again (though, he probably won't OPS .500 against lefties either), so I see him coming down a bit from last year. Magglio Ordonez just had one of the all time flukey seasons, imo, and will go back to being the steady .850 OPS guy he was. Sheffield is still alright, but most of his value comes from his OBP at this point. He's not the same hitter he was even 3 years ago. Moving Guillen from SS to 1B turns him into a league average 1B as opposed to a top 5 SS.

 

I think they'll be a good, and possibly even very good offense, but I don't think this it will even be the best one in the AL.

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MrRain422

MrRain422

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The Tigers line-up will not be unbeatable as some people think, but it will be incredibly solid and probably the best 1-9 in the league.

 

I'm expecting Granderson to have a similar year from last season. Ordonez, of course, will not be as good as he was last year -- that was a crazy career year for a guy in his 30s. Sheffield is a wildcard.

 

Yes, Guillen's bat is less valuable as a first baseman than as a shortstop. He's also slipped dramatically in his fielding in the last couple of years, so the move to first base could save some runs on the other end of things. And remember that last year's first baseman was Sean Casey. Guillen is a lot better than Sean Casey. In reality though, Casey's bat is being replaced by Edgar Renteria's, which is probably still an upgrade, although it's hard to know how good of a year Renteria will have. I'm expecting him to be a lot better than he was during his last stint in the AL, but probably not as good as last year. A lot of the people who have fawned over the Tigers line-up have done so mostly because of the names, and there's no doubt that Sheffield, Guillen, and most of all Pudge are past their peak. But other than Pudge, everyone will get on base pretty consistently, and there's a lot of power from top to bottom. I'm not really sure what else they could do to improve it really.

 

No, they're not going to score 7 a game. Last year they were already the 2nd highest scoring team in the American League behind the Yankees and just ahead of the Red Sox. The Tigers should score more runs than they did last year. The Yankees and Red Sox may too. If the Tigers are not the highest scoring team in the American League, they'll have to be awfully close to it.

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bobbob1313

bobbob1313

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Yeah, I guess most of it is the names. I think the pitching has to be the key for them. So much talent, let's see if they can stay healthy and put it all together.

 

Interesting fact, apparently PECOTA thinks the Mets are the best team in baseball (from what I read on Unfiltered on BP, anyways. If anyone has an actual subscription, they can verify, and maybe be a doll and post their predicted standings).

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MrRain422

MrRain422

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There are some pitching question marks. I feel pretty good about the rotation. Not sure of the order exactly, but it looks like it's probably going to be Verlander, Rogers, Bonderman, Willis, Robertson. Verlander is of course fucking awesome. Who knows about Rogers, but he may get hurt again anyway, and there are a couple of younger guys who can step in and do the job. Bonderman has to break out one of these days, but even if it's just his standard year, that's pretty damn good. Willis has had a very up and down career, but he's still only 26 and hasn't peaked yet -- I think he'll surprise some people this year. And Robertson is nothing special, but a fine #5 starter.

 

The bullpen is a big question mark, and that's sort of where Willis becomes more valuable, because even if he's not a star, he's a reliable innings eater. Leyland says he's going to expect more innings out of all of his starters this year and if they can come through on that then the bullpen problems won't matter quite as much. I'm still terrified of Todd Jones, though I'm hoping that the offense will open up enough big leads that he can't fuck things up too badly.

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MattZ

MattZ

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Interesting fact, apparently PECOTA thinks the Mets are the best team in baseball (from what I read on Unfiltered on BP, anyways. If anyone has an actual subscription, they can verify, and maybe be a doll and post their predicted standings).

 

I can't confirm PECOTA, but I can confirm that MATTZ agrees.

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bjorn_skurj

bjorn_skurj

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Yeah, I guess most of it is the names. I think the pitching has to be the key for them. So much talent, let's see if they can stay healthy and put it all together.

 

Interesting fact, apparently PECOTA thinks the Mets are the best team in baseball (from what I read on Unfiltered on BP, anyways. If anyone has an actual subscription, they can verify, and maybe be a doll and post their predicted standings).

That's nice of him to say, but I don't know if what a retired utility player says should be taken as gospel.

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Leo

Leo

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The bullpen is a big question mark

Matt Mantei may be the wild card there. With Zumaya out (although ahead of schedule in his rehab) until after midseason, Rodney injured, and Jones being Jones, the addition of a healthy(?) Mantei may be huge. Inge caught him in a bullpen session the other day and claimed his stuff was electric, the best he's seen in years.

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bobbob1313

bobbob1313

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The Marlins beat the Orioles 16-3!

 

 

A relatively new medical procedure has helped Cody Ross overcome a nagging left hamstring problem that caused the outfielder to miss substantial time in 2007.

Limited to 66 games and 173 at-bats a year ago, Ross was willing to try just about anything to strengthen his hamstring for this season.

 

The 27-year-old outfielder was recommended for examination by renowned physician Dr. Richard Steadman in Vail, Colo., in October.

 

Steadman asked Ross if he wanted to undergo a procedure. Basically, Ross had blood withdrawn from his arm. It was placed into what he calls a "high-tech machine" that cleans out the blood, leaving in the cells that help healing. The blood was then injected directly into Ross' hamstring. He received three or four of the injections.

 

The procedure has paid off.

 

"They said just relax a couple of weeks and don't do anything strenuous, and it should help the healing," Ross said. "I took an MRI. They told me I didn't have a tear or anything. It was a little scar tissue."

 

Sounds like it is vaguely, almost unethical, in light of all of the steroids problems lately, but if it continues to help him hit like he has threw 3 games, I'm all for it. I have a really good feeling about him this year.

 

 

I know everyone expects the Marlins to lose 100+ games and all that (The vegas over under is 68), but I can't see it. Losing Cabrera hurts, but we were so bad in CF last year that Maybin has to be an improvement. RF should also improve, as should catcher and 1B. The pitching also can't be as bad as it was last year, and for that reason alone, I think we improve.

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PigSooie

PigSooie

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Sounds like it is vaguely, almost unethical, in light of all of the steroids problems lately, but if it continues to help him hit like he has threw 3 games, I'm all for it. I have a really good feeling about him this year.

 

 

That is cool as shit.

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bjorn_skurj

bjorn_skurj

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Sounds like it is vaguely, almost unethical, in light of all of the steroids problems lately, but if it continues to help him hit like he has threw 3 games, I'm all for it. I have a really good feeling about him this year.

Hey, if it worked for Keith Richards, then what the hell?

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Mr. Kinsley

Mr. Kinsley

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As for the Red Sox/Dodgers game at the Coliseum next month, check out the last photo of this set. The rest are the usual 'Hey! Ain't I cool wearing a suit and pretending to shovel dirt at this groundbreaking ceremony!' crap, but the last shot gives you a sense of just how insane it will be. Also, they just announced they're selling an additional 15,000 tickets - allowing fans to get SRO tix and stand on the grass past the fence in right. It will be the highest attendance for a baseball game ever, at over 100,000 people to watch big leaguers take their cuts on a little league field (with a 60' high screen in left.)

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PigSooie

PigSooie

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Notes: La Russa to bat pitcher eighth

Skipper wants speed and on-base skills at the bottom of lineup

By Matthew Leach / MLB.com

 

 

JUPITER, Fla. -- A discussion of leadoff possibilities for the 2008 Cardinals unearthed all sorts of interesting nuggets on Tuesday, but none more revealing than this: manager Tony La Russa will again use a "second leadoff man" in his lineup this year.

That is to say, La Russa fully intends and expects to bat the pitcher eighth in his lineup in '08, just as he did for the final two months of 2007. He had previously indicated that the plan was at least possible, but on Tuesday he went further.

 

During his daily morning briefing with reporters, La Russa was speaking mostly about his wide-open leadoff spot, and what qualities he seeks in the applicants for that job. He simply happened to reveal something else in the course of the chat.

 

"I've already answered this like 10 times," he said. "On-base percentage. That's the No. 1 priority. We're not going to have a guy that's going to steal bases like Rickey [Henderson] or Vince Coleman. ... The other thing is we're going to have the second leadoff as the ninth-place hitter, when we put the pitcher in the lineup."

 

Whether or not the correlation actually indicates causation, the Cardinals did score more runs when the pitcher was batting eighth last season. They scored 4.34 runs per game during the season's first 106 games, and after the switch was made, they averaged 4.64 runs per game.

 

More specifically, both the No. 8 and No. 9 spots performed more effectively. Cardinals pitchers hit .191 with a .217 on-base percentage and a .242 slugging percentage during the time they were ninth in the lineup. After La Russa changed tactics, pitchers put up a line of .210/.248/.240.

 

No. 8 hitters before the switch hit .263/.316/.338, while after the switch, No. 9 hitters hit .265/.321/.388.

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