LorfTVP

Apparently Barry Bonds blames his standoffish attitude on death threats and his worry for his family. Is this really the angle he's taking? I know he's gone for the pity approach before, even crying on his short lived ESPN show, but seriously. I doubt this will change anything.

About the Mets... I don't think Wright collapsed in the second half. Power outage, yes, but he still led the team in RBI and finished 6th in the league in BA with runners in scoring position. He did struggle after he signed his deal and maybe was a little distracted by all the attention he was suddenly receiving. Hopefully, he's used to it now and he'll continue to grow as a player. He makes some outstanding plays at third, but his throwing is a little shaky at times, especially when he has time. I also think the starting rotation will not be bad. I am a firm believer that Rick Peterson really knows what the hell he is doing. He's the only good thing that came out of the Art Howe Experience. I love that we finally have some young, talented arms, and I believe that Oliver Perez will surprise alot of Met fans this season.

 

As for the Yanks/Sawx rivalry.... well, it will be a bloodbath, once again. I'm looking forward to seeing what Dice-K can do.

 

That's all I have... baseball is way too unpredictable to predict....

True, not a collapse, and I've talked about this in other threads, but he still has a lot of room for improvement in maintaining his numbers over the long season. The major problem in the second half was a collapse in power and I'm not gonna lie, I'm a bit bitter because he was on my fantasy team...but I'd have no problem with drafting him again. I sort of wish I could check situational stats split between pre and post ASB to see if he just wasn't knocking guys in or if there just wasn't anybody on base for him in the second half.

Official Predictions

Blue Jeans

AL East - Yankees, Red Sox, Blue Jays, Orioles, Devil Rays

AL Central - White Sox, Tigers, Twins, Indians, Royals

AL West - Angels, Athletics, Rangers, Mariners

NL East - Mets, Phillies, Marlins, Braves, Nationals

NL Central - Brewers, Cardinals, Cubs, Astros, Reds, Pirates

NL West - Padres, Diamondbacks, Giants, Dodgers, Rockies

LorfTVP

AL East - Red Sox, Yankees, Blue Jays, Devil Rays, Orioles

AL Central - Tigers, White Sox, Indians, Twins, Royals

AL West - Angels, Athletics, Rangers, Mariners

NL East - Mets, Phillies, Braves, Marlins, Nationals

Virginia Giant

AL East - Red Sox, Yankees, Blue Jays, Evil Rays*, Orioles

AL Central - Tigers, White Sox, Indians, Twins, Royals

AL West - Rangers, Angels, Athletics, Mariners

Dub Pistol

AL East - Red Sox, Yankees, Devil Rays, Blue Jays, Orioles

AL Central - White Sox, Twins, Indians, Tigers, Royals

AL West - Athletics, Rangers, Angels, Mariners

NL East - Mets, Phillies, Marlins, Braves, Nationals

NL Central - Cardinals, Reds, Astros, Cubs, Brewers, Pirates

NL West - Dodgers, Padres, Giants, Diamondbacks, Rockies

gateb

AL East - Yankees, Red Sox, Devil Rays, Toronto, Baltimore

AL Central - Tigers, Indians, White Sox, Twins, Royals

AL West - Athletics, Angels, Rangers, Mariners

NL East - Mets, Phillies, Marlins, Braves, Nationals

NL Central - Cardinals, Cubs, Reds, Astros, Brewers, Pirates

NL West - Dodgers, Padres, Giants, Diamondbacks, Rockies

Now here are the averages of our predictions...note the small sample size though with the AL with 5 votes, NL East 4, and NL Central and West at 3. Still, take from these what you will. And to note the complaint of everyone's prediction being last year's season standings, I'll put the winners at their positions to the right of the Prediction Average

AL East

Red Sox 1.4 / Yankees

Yankees 1.6 / Blue Jays

Blue Jays 3.4 / Red Sox

Devil Rays 3.8 / Orioles

Orioles 4.8 / Devil Rays

AL Central

Tigers 1.8 / Twins

White Sox 1.8 / Tigers

Indians 3 / Whites Sox

Twins 3.4 / Indians

Royals 5 / Royals

AL West

Angels 1.8 / Athletics

Athletics 1.8 / Angels

Rangers 2.4 / Rangers

Mariners 4 / Mariners

NL East

Mets 1 / Mets

Phillies 2 / Phillies

Marlins 3.25 / Braves

Braves 3.75 / Marlins

Nationals 5 / Nationals

NL Central

Cardinals 1.3 / Cardinals

Cubs 3 / Astros

Reds 3.3 / Reds

Brewers 3.6 / Brewers

Astros 3.6 / Pirates

Pirates 5 / Cubs

NL West

Padres 1.6 / Padres

Dodgers 2 / Dodgers

Giants 3 / Giants

Diamondbacks 3.3 / Diamondbacks

Rockies 5 / Rockies

13/30 are the same. We need some more predictions here.

NL East

New York Mets - It's hard to go against a team that won 97 games last year, tied for most in the majors and by far the most in the NL with second being the Padres with 88 wins. The Mets still have the strongest lineup in the National league with the only change being Moises Alou over Cliff Floyd. You can't expect him to be healthy all year but Moises Alou is a good hitter, better than Floyd ever was, and will definitely help offensively. Defensively, good thing Beltran is in center field. The team's core is only getting stronger with Wright hopefully recovering from a second half collapse and Jose Reyes taking this seriously enough to pack on muscle this offseason. Beltran claims that he'll start running again, and he can steal 40 bases, but take that with a grain of salt because of his spot in the batting order. Still, he stole 18 last year and only got caught 3 times and teams love good basestealing ability like that. With a strong bullpen, the Mets should be able to survive their deficiency in starters but at least they're being intelligent about it and giving young guys chances unlike the Twins who are starting Carlos Silva and Sidney Ponson over the likes of Garza and Baker. Remember, the Mets won 97 games last year with consistent turmoil in the starting rotation and with their AL style offense, they can do it again.

Philadelphia Phillies - This should be an interesting race all summer...the Phillies, I would say, may be a more complete team than the Mets in that they have starting pitching and a lot of potential in the rotation. They possibly have the second strongest offense in the NL just in the strength of their infield with the game's best second basemen, Chase Utley, the game's second best first baseman, Ryan Howard, and possibly the game's third best shortstop (clumped with Jeter, Young, and Ramirez after Reyes) in Jimmy Rollins. I really like the look of Cole Hamels and despite all the whining about him, Pat Burrell still had a pretty good season and can do it again with hopefully a little bit more luck. They can pitch ballgames and win a few slugfests if need be.

Atlanta Braves - As much as I'd love to put the Marlins here, I gotta lean towards the Atlanta Braves who a lot of people are writing off. I know there's some bad news out of Spring Training about Chipper Jones but one still has to like the look of the Braves with all these young guys and adequate-solid rotation. I think the Marlins have a lot more potential but they're a much younger and spontaneous team while the Braves, despite last year's hiccup, have consistency on their side. Add to that their tremendous bullpen now with the additions of Rafael Soriano and Mike Gonzalez and you have yourselves a contender.

Florida Marlins - I do like the look of this young team but as I said before, they're young and we don't know how they'll react to the new manager. But still, the Mets have one of the top young rotations in the game that will obviously encounter growing pains but could go through some streaks of greatness. The lineup is solid, with center field being an obvious hole, a problem that they'll eventually (hopefully) fix by sending young pitching to the Devil Rays for one of their many OF prospects...which would be great for both teams and baseball as a whole. But yah, Miguel Cabrera, who may have went unnoticed last year because he only hit 26 HRs despite being in the BA race until the last day and greatly improving in reducing strikeouts and increasing walks. Also, don't forget everyone's ROY pick last year, Jeremy Hermida, who could come back with a vengeance and make this young team even stronger.

Washington Nationals - 'Nuff said. They have one set guy in their starting rotation, John Patterson, the oft injured ace, and Nick Johnson will never be healthy. The only exciting people to watch are Chad Cordero and the defensive whiz and maturing hitter that is Ryan Zimmerman.

I'll come back and do the rest of the NL later.

AL EAST.

1. Yankees

2. Red Sox

3. Devil Rays

4. Toronto

5. Baltimore

 

AL Central

1. Tigers

2. Indians

3. White Sox

4. Twins

5. Royals

I just realized what a sick division that is. Damn!

 

AL West

1. A's

2. Angels

3. Rangers

4. Mariners

 

NL West

1. Dodgers

2. Padres

3. Giants

4. D-Backs

5. Rockies

 

NL Central

1. Cardinals

2. Cubs

3. Reds

4. Astros

5. Brewers

6. Pirates

 

NL East

1. Mets

2. Phillys

3. Marlins

4. Braves

5. Nats

I really like the Devil Rays too but how can they possibly beat Toronto and Baltimore without pitching unless every single one of their prospects hits and they can trade the surplus for young pitching. In the AL and NL Central the top four could be in any order...same with the top three teams in the NL East. Ahh, it's gonna be a good year for baseball.

Ugh really? I got two computers, I'll leave a page open all day on both. Of course, our fanbase isnt exactly the Sox fanbase. If the drawing is at 10, can I log in beforehand?

 

btw, do the Sox have the same thing in having a lottery to be part of this ticket selling thing? I'm sure the Mets limited down some possible ticket buyers with this lottery.

Well, there's a limit to how many tickets you can buy so that makes things a bit easier. I still think you're gonna have a tough go of it considering that the Mets fanbase isn't exactly miniscule...but prove me wrong, for your sake. The way it worked with the Sox was that you could sign in before 10 and you'd be put in a waiting room where it counts down from 30 seconds and automatically refreshes every single time. Eventually, if you're chosen from the waiting room (the lottery part), you'll get a chance to buy a ticket but ONLY for the game you clicked on to get to the waiting room in the first place. I hope your system works better than ours did.

I see the Red Sox being one of those teams. The Mets, Yankees and probably the Phils are the few teams that Young might move to 2B for if the dollar values equal that to play SS. My guess is Boston makes a huge push or he stays a Ranger, which considering his numbers hitting in that park would be his best bet IMO.

Unless Pedroia takes a nosedive, I don't see the Sox moving for Michael Young at all. The position change aside, the Sox have a payroll that's significantly higher than they want and despite losing Clement's 9.5 million, Lowell's 9 million, and possibly Schilling's 13 million, I don't see the Sox doing anything at second. Clement's a non-issue and it'll just be saved money as soon as he's gone but the Red Sox will need a third baseman if Lowell leaves after the season. Either they resign him at market value, which unfortunately, will probably be about the 9 million he's at now, they sign someone (2008 FA is weak at 3b), trade for someone during the offseason, or move Youkilis back to third and train Pena to play first. I mean, of course that's a lot of options, but looking at Lowell's nosedive in the second half last year, he'll have to prove himself to at least earn what he'll earn this year. In respect to Schilling, I expect him to resign with the Sox in the offseason if he does well this season to A. Give him a HoF chance as a Red Sox and B. Just to have a leader on the pitching staff. A lot depends on the performances of the Sox' rotation and Lester in AAA. If Lester's ready though, wow, we could save 13 million in the rotation and still get damn good production. But yah, my basic point, Boston won't be pursuing Michael Young.

See my above post...

Ahh, I tip my hat to you sir.

And honestly, I think it's more likely that Franco becomes the oldest player in major league history to trip on a squirrel running from second to third base in a September day game.

How great would it be if we can get one of those 3 prospects to play a good 2nd base.

 

It's a long shot, but that's by far our worst position in the majors and farm system and there's not exactly a great crop of FA 2nd basemen in most off-seasons.

Oh, but there were a crapload of 2b this past offseason...Loretta, Belliard, Cairo, DeRosa, Adam Kennedy, Giles (via trade)...etc.

I guess I will do a Mets players to watch for:

 

David Wright: After slumping for 2 months after the all star break he just managed to hit .311 with 26 homers and 116 RBI and not

to mention 20 stolen bases. Expect Wright to hit over .300 again with more home runs and around 120 RBI. The sky is the limit for D-Wright, just as long

as he stays out of the home run derby.

 

Jose Reyes: Hit .300 with 19 home runs and 81 for a lead off hitter, also 17 triples to that. He is arguably the most exciting player

in Major League Baseball, plays great defense and speaks Spanish.

 

I`ll finish the rest later as I am hungover and tired.

Well, Reyes did add 8 pounds of muscle this offseason too and I think he's rounded out at an even 200 lbs. Randolph is gushing about how he looks. But past that, I was thinking more along the lines of under the radar guys...I dunno...Oliver Perez maybe? The Mets are pretty established everywhere except for the starting rotation.

I feel like with both of our players to watch most of them haven't made any huge contributions of yet. Here's yours:

Players to watch on the Rangers

 

 

Ian Kinsler: Second Baseman. He seems to be a good all around player, a hard worker. reminds me of Michael Young, has big offensive shoes to fill following Soriano, but even though he moved to 2B recently, his defense has to be an improvment over Sori.

 

 

Kameron Loe: Pitcher, Has the stuff, they decided to keep him instead of Chris Young, that speaks volumes because I was very high on Young, he'll be in the 4 spot and he pitched very well last season.

 

 

Kevin Mench: Left Field, not exactly a noob, but relativly unknown. This should be his year, he's been a productive player, but all signs point to him having a very good year. 35 HR's and 80+ RBI's.

 

Lance Wilkerson: CF, He should be batting lead off, and in our park he could have a break out year.

 

Ok, now for some minor leagers

 

John Danks, Thomas Diomond. theres another one I just can't remember right now. But Danks and Diomond have impressed the MLB coaching staffs, especially Diomond. Both should see big league time this year, Diomond might even win the 5 spot later in the year.

 

Joaquin Arias, SS. It'll be tough for him to see much time unless God forbid Young or Kinsler get injured, or Kinsler struggles alot. But he has impressed alot of people, I can only go by word of mouth because I have not seen him play.

I'm sort of ashamed, VG, for you not to mention Kinsler who was struck by injuries and bad luck as a player to watch for in 2007. He could be a part of that underrated Rangers infield that could quite possibly rank third or fourth behind the Phillies, Mets, and Yankees. As I said in another thread, I expect Michael Young to pick it up a bit in terms of power and production from last year, Teixeira will most likely build off of his second half last year, and this may be Blalock's last year to prove himself. Throw in Kinsler who offers at least 15/15 production (14 HRs, 11 SB in 423 ABs) and bravo, there's something to be proud of. Your outfield on the other hand...hehe...not gonna touch that. Arias is only 21 and his time will come eventually, but probably not for another couple of years with your infield filled up...I think the Rangers will take their time with such a young player. I'd also like to see Arias start stealing bases more intelligently...he has a 90-43 minor league SB/CS ratio.

As for the Red Sox:

Dustin Pedroia - I'm high on the kid and with good reason. The Sox brass saw enough in this scrappy young kid not resign Mark Loretta or any of the multitude of 2b on the market this offseason. The guy is a line drive hitter who will take walks (to the tune of a .392 minor league OBP and about a .370 OBP in AAA) and offer good statistics for a number 9 hitter. There's no pressure on him now, and despite his flop in a September callup, he spent 11 weeks at the Arizona Sports Institute this offseason and lost 23 pounds that he gained after surgery last year. That kind of motivation usually means a player is something special and even if he is diminutive and isn't particularly the most exciting player in the world, he is the perfect complementary player who can get on base and score runs.

Coco Crisp - Despite still hurting from his finger surgery when he bats lefthanded, I also have high hopes for Coco Crisp to live up to the player he was before breaking his finger in the sixth game of the year and playing injured for the entire year. Even though he only played 104 games last season, he still stole 22 bases and got caught only 4 times. With the roles clearly defined this season and Crisp batting 8th, he'll definitely get 30 and possibly touch 40 stolen bases with Pedroia bunting him over every other opportunity. The guy's 26, healthy (save for some lingering pain), and has a good spot in the order to at least hit .300 with 15 HRs, 30 SBs (even though he's never eclipsed last season's 22 SB in the majors, Tito seems willing to run with him), and moderate RBI and run production considering his spot in the lineup.

There really isn't anybody in the Red Sox farm system who is likely to come up for more than a cup of tea this season. The bullpen is stacked and if anyone goes down there will be a bevy of pitchers in AAA to call up and the outfield depth is good with Pena and Hinske (although Hinske will most likely backup the IF positions with Cora). If the OF takes a hit, David Murphy who added 15 pounds of muscle this offseason will likely get an opportunity if he isn't traded first. Ellsbury is an exciting CF with phenomenal speed and defensive abilities but the Sox most likely wouldn't want to impede his development considering he'll start in AAA for the first time this season. Hansen is sort of a forgotten man but he was considered one of the best prospects in the draft for a reason...he has an incredible ability to pitch and he was thrust into the major league bullpen last season because of a barrage of injuries. Expect Lester to start out in AAA and hopefully stay there to work out his ability to throw strikes.

As far as for the rest of the major leagues...fuck you guys. If I'm going to be in a league with all of you then there's no way I'm giving my secrets up. Yahoo Fantasy Baseball is now officially up...anyone make a league yet and do we have a clear set of participants?

I feel like with both of our players to watch most of them haven't made any huge contributions of yet. Here's yours:

Players to watch on the Rangers

 

 

Ian Kinsler: Second Baseman. He seems to be a good all around player, a hard worker. reminds me of Michael Young, has big offensive shoes to fill following Soriano, but even though he moved to 2B recently, his defense has to be an improvment over Sori.

 

 

Kameron Loe: Pitcher, Has the stuff, they decided to keep him instead of Chris Young, that speaks volumes because I was very high on Young, he'll be in the 4 spot and he pitched very well last season.

 

 

Kevin Mench: Left Field, not exactly a noob, but relativly unknown. This should be his year, he's been a productive player, but all signs point to him having a very good year. 35 HR's and 80+ RBI's.

 

Lance Wilkerson: CF, He should be batting lead off, and in our park he could have a break out year.

 

Ok, now for some minor leagers

 

John Danks, Thomas Diomond. theres another one I just can't remember right now. But Danks and Diomond have impressed the MLB coaching staffs, especially Diomond. Both should see big league time this year, Diomond might even win the 5 spot later in the year.

 

Joaquin Arias, SS. It'll be tough for him to see much time unless God forbid Young or Kinsler get injured, or Kinsler struggles alot. But he has impressed alot of people, I can only go by word of mouth because I have not seen him play.

I'm sort of ashamed, VG, for you not to mention Kinsler who was struck by injuries and bad luck as a player to watch for. He could be a part of that underrated Rangers infield that could quite possibly rank third or fourth behind the Phillies, Mets, and Yankees. As I said in another thread, I expect Michael Young to pick it up a bit in terms of power and production from last year, Teixeira will most likely build off of his second half last year, and this may be Blalock's last year to prove himself. Throw in Kinsler who offers at least 15/15 production (14 HRs, 11 SB in 423 ABs) and bravo, there's something to be proud of. Your outfield on the other hand...hehe...not gonna touch that. Arias is only 21 and his time will come eventually, but probably not for another couple of years with your infield filled up...I think the Rangers will take their time with such a young player. I'd also like to see Arias start stealing bases more intelligently...he has a 90-43 minor league SB/CS ratio.

As for the Red Sox:

Dustin Pedroia - I'm high on the kid and with good reason. The Sox brass saw enough in this scrappy young kid not resign Mark Loretta or any of the multitude of 2b on the market this offseason. The guy is a line drive hitter who will take walks (to the tune of a .392 minor league OBP and about a .370 OBP in AAA) and offer good statistics for a number 9 hitter. There's no pressure on him now, and despite his flop in a September callup, he spent 11 weeks at the Arizona Sports Institute this offseason and lost 23 pounds that he gained after surgery last year. That kind of motivation usually means a player is something special and even if he is diminutive and isn't particularly the most exciting player in the world, he is the perfect complementary player who can get on base and score runs.

Coco Crisp - Despite still hurting from his finger surgery when he bats lefthanded, I also have high hopes for Coco Crisp to live up to the player he was before breaking his finger in the sixth game of the year and playing injured for the entire year. Even though he only played 104 games last season, he still stole 22 bases and got caught only 4 times. With the roles clearly defined this season and Crisp batting 8th, he'll definitely get 30 and possibly touch 40 stolen bases with Pedroia bunting him over every other opportunity. The guy's 26, healthy (save for some lingering pain), and has a good spot in the order to at least hit .300 with 15 HRs, 30 SBs (even though he's never eclipsed last season's 22 SB in the majors, Tito seems willing to run with him), and moderate RBI and run production considering his spot in the lineup.

There really isn't anybody in the Red Sox farm system who is likely to come up for more than a cup of tea this season. The bullpen is stacked and if anyone goes down there will be a bevy of pitchers in AAA to call up and the outfield depth is good with Pena and Hinske (although Hinske will most likely backup the IF positions with Cora). If the OF takes a hit, David Murphy who added 15 pounds of muscle this offseason will likely get an opportunity if he isn't traded first. Ellsbury is an exciting CF with phenomenal speed and defensive abilities but the Sox most likely wouldn't want to impede his development considering he'll start in AAA for the first time this season. Hansen is sort of a forgotten man but he was considered one of the best prospects in the draft for a reason...he has an incredible ability to pitch and he was thrust into the major league bullpen last season because of a barrage of injuries. Expect Lester to start out in AAA and hopefully stay there to work out his ability to throw strikes.

As far as for the rest of the major leagues...fuck you guys. If I'm going to be in a league with all of you then there's no way I'm giving my secrets up. Yahoo Fantasy Baseball is now officially up...anyone make a league yet and do we have a clear set of participants?

I did this last year, and while I was off the mark on a few of the Rangers, we all got to witness the level of brilliance Lorf has. :worshippy:

 

And lastly, Brandon McCarthy SP. Given the third spot, traded our top pitching prospect for him, so we'll see. I havn't seen much of the guy personally, and lorf could tell you more than I could about him, but he's supposed to be a lock.

Oh wow...I don't even remember how off the mark my predictions were last year...gonna have to check those. As for McCarthy, the knock on him is that he gives up too many HRs but he's actually moving from a more power oriented ballpark to Texas where the homers still fly but not so much. While his 10.26 minor league K/9 has yet to translate into major league success (6.94), we know he's capable of punching people out with decent control. Look at this, his minor league HR/9 is 0.84 compared to his major league HR/9 of...get this...1.78. I think we have a bit of 2006 Beckett problem here...McCarthy won't do worse than his 4.39 major league ERA in 1 1/2 seasons as a reliever and could possibly do better if he could cut down on HRs. I would expect decent things, especially since he finally has a place to start instead of being relegated to the pen because of the White Sox' five aces of yesteryear. There may be some bumps in the road as he gets used to starting again but he'll provide more now than Danks will for a while.

MLB sold it's sole when it got the big time Redsox Yankees matchups, now thats the only post season matchup people wanna see. Baseball doesn't do a great job with it's smaller market marketing imo. I mean this is big time O's country and there really much advertising here. this area should be a baseball hot spot with 2 "hometown" teams in the O's and Nats, yet you either have die hard fans or people who don't care, the money they are losing is to the tweeners, people who would follow a team if it were the popular thing to do. Take the NFL, everyone has a favorite team even if they don't follow the sport closely, they'll wear the hats and maybe have a sweatshirt, but don't intently watch games and check daily for any scrap of news about the team they follow.

Baseball needs to mass market the sport, mix in it's legendary past with todays brightest stars from all markets. Get tweener fans who will follow an out of market team.

 

Baseball will always do good at the gates, it's played in good weather and is family friendly, it's a great place to take the kids so to speak. If they start broadening the appeal of less popular teams, the post season will become interested to more people, so when the Yanks and Sox ain't playing, people still watch.

Agreed! I still think baseball is making the biggest resurgence of the four major sports with, as mentioned above, the influx of new top prospects who will dazzle (Liriano, Alex Gordon, Upton) etc., exciting young players (Reyes, Wright, Howard), veterans (Maddux, Glavine, Clemens, Johnson, Schilling, Smoltz), milestones (Manny, A-rod, and Thomas to 500 HRs, Biggio to 3000 hits, Glavine to 300 wins, etc..., and of course the most controversial milestone and storyline in Barry Bonds. Thing is, as much as people want to see him crash and burn, from what I've been hearing, nobody really cares about the steroid issue anymore because they assume it's dealt with. Sure, it's still around and there are lingering issues, but as far as the common fan knows...it's done with. The fact that every team in the majors except for the Nationals, Royals, and Devil Rays have a chance at the playoffs helps even more. Baseball has it's strong points in Boston, NY, Chicago, LA, etc...but as you said, they just need to spur on fans in smaller markets and their teams' successes could do that.

 

I also agree with Lorf. MLB is doing pretty well right now...just the NFL does so much better than all the other leagues it's rediculous.

Although it can be amazing, MLB sort of lacks in the playoffs when top teams aren't playing...but still, get the playoffs off FOX and things could get better. The fact that most teams have a chance now will help during the regular season but come October, who wants to watch the Brewers in playoff baseball?

As a DTV owner, I dont really care, but for the good of the sport(which is dying now anyway) it's stupid. This is going to destroy the MLB fan base.

I was under the impression that baseball was having a bit of a resurgence...especially with so many exciting youngsters and veterans possibly playing their last seasons.

And old people are funny.

This guy just called Mussina brittle...credibility = gone.

Excuse me, brittle of late. When you get older and deal with injuries for the first time in your career it's just as bad as being brittle throughout your entire career. You want my honest opinion? There are so many old pitchers around in Johnson, Schilling, Glavine, Maddux, Clemens, Mussina, etc. that not all of them can strike gold and I think Mussina may falter. Heck, our rotation has two older guys too and there's a chance they might crack, who knows.

Sox have the same thing but then the entire fanbase is online at one time and the odds of you getting through the lottery are slim to none. I mean, for regular Sox tickets it started at 10 am and I couldn't get out of the waiting room until 6 pm. It'll be worse when the Yankees series go on sale separately...but if you have the same lottery system then have multiple computers and a lot of free time.

I like the prolonged wait...adds drama. It also adds flavor to certain pitcher's styles.

This will be a classic for years to come.

479

Yankee fans, check out the piece on the Yankees from TheSportingNews...even though it is fantasy oriented I feel that it takes a really good look at each individual player and the team's strengths and weaknesses.

It's not a bad move at all. Just another guy thrown into the mix. The Mets may not have made a splash by overpaying for a starter, but they are bringing in alot of guys to compete for rotation spots. Competition brings out the best in athletes, doesn't it?

Tell that to our bullpen.

Oh shit.... LMAO

Chan Ho winds up for the pitch and its a fastball right down broadway and CRAAAAAACCCKKKk straight to the parking lot behind centerfield. LMAO

Ball is in...parking lot.

Hope their bullpen is loaded...

Thing is, their bullpen actually is loaded...but a lot of that is because of overspending for relief pitchers. I mean, c'mon, a three year six million dollar deal for Danys Baez whose strikeout rate has been plummeting? But yah, they'll be a mess again...decent offense though.

Red Sox have best rotation* in baseball.