LorfTVP

I understand, oddly I find it's not a big deal to most people from the New York area. But the record stood for 56 years.

I see Cal Ripken's streak as among those "unbreakable" records and it should get mentioned as one. As great as Aaron's record is, it's obviously not unbreakable.

Unbreakable records:

2,632 games

56 game hitting streak

59 consecutive scoreless innings

And on a slightly lower level stands Ted William's .406, though it isn't the record, it stands there was the last BA over .400.

Many of our best players are treated like the gods that they were. Granted I don't know how the careers of some of the best players in history ended so I can't truly gauge an answer to this question.

Rangers Sign Gagne

For that price, unless you get some groundbreaking deal for Otsuka, it isn't worth it, VG> We were unwilling to go past 5 or 6...but 8 million? Wow.

Correction, updated 11 minutes ago by Rosenthal: The deal, which likely is pending a physical, is expected to include approximately $5 million in appearance incentives, bringing the possible total to $11 million, major-league sources said.

But still...I'd like to pay a healthy guy that much, but Gagne right now...in Texas?

There's a drama to a series that an individual game doesn't have...and if the series reaches the final game, you get that drama of the single game and then some. There's something about being on the brink of elimination. If you're losing by a certain amount in a football game, you know it's over...in a series, it isn't over until you've won the 3 or 4 games. There's always a chance to come back...the drama continues over time. Do you know how many MLB playoff games have toyed with my soul? One game, the superbowl for instance, is just a spectacle. Granted it usually is a good game, but it's just not the same.

You know what, screw all those steroid users. This year we'll elect all the worthy people who deserve to be in the hall of fame. Tony Gwynn, Cal Ripken Jr., welcome to the hall of fame.

Although neither one has outright admitted to their steroid usage, I feel that Bonds, as the player he is, has much more of a responsibility to. Also, considering what Bonds, as a player, means to the history of the game...he's tainted it enough, he can't taint the hall. We'll see about McGwire soon.

Football is head and shoulders ahead of baseball. It's hard to get excited for gameday night after night in baseball. Football is just so much more exciting in everyway.

 

But when your favorite baseball team wins, your feeling on baseball starts to change just a little

I get excited for every single Red Sox game...though part of it might just be me being crazy. I just feel that the promise of a game every single day...of excitement, of individual storylines, of everything is well worth it. Every single game at least has one hitter worth watching, one matchup...something worth waiting for, whether it's a pitcher's duel, a top player batting, or a fireballing closer.

One thing this arguing does, it makes me even more excited for baseball! I already kind of miss it. I like having a game to watch almost every night.

 

I agree completely...we can argue over which sport is dominant until the cows come home and are devoured but you can't take away how many baseball games there are. It's always there and that's just a beautiful thing.

I believe if Selig believes the Sox just bid to block a team, he will award Matzusaka's rights with the second highest bidder (Mets). Which totally sucks ass.

I don't see that happening at all. The only person who would win from Matsuzaka not signing is Boras who will reinforce his image...though it might hurt his chances with Japanese FAs and send more to top agents like Arn Tellem or the Hendricks. But if Matsuzaka isn't signed, the Lions lose, Matsuzaka loses, and the Red Sox lose. It is in their best interest to sign him but not if it's outrageous. Granted, if the Red Sox lose out on Matsuzaka, they'll step up their pursuit of Clemens who will have to make a difficult decision about whether or not to leave his family and pitch for one of two cities in the biggest rivalry in all of sports. If Matsuzaka is still with the Lions in 2007, the country of Japan will not be happy...and then he'll just come over to the Yankees next year on a 70 million dollar posting bid.

I believe the Red Sox were only trying to block the Yankees from getting him. In reality, they blocked the Mets, which is good, because I'm not sold on the idea of using all that money on an unproven (in the majors) pitcher. I'd rather see the Mets spend that money on Zito.

I don't believe that at all...it's simply Boras wanting way too much money. Boras thinks Matsuzaka should be getting paid 15 million dollars a year PLUS the 51 million dollar posting fee, and that's too much for the Red Sox. The Sox are offering a reasonable 8 million a year for four-five years. That's leaps and bounds above what Matsuzaka was paid in Japan. If the Red Sox just wanted to block other teams then they wouldn't have tried so hard...but you have to understand where they're coming from. I think it'll all depend on what Matsuzaka wants...maybe in the last few days he'll decide, fuck Boras, I want to pitch in the major leagues.

Yankees sign Andy Pettite to a one year, 16 million dollar deal with a player option for 2008.

We'll probably sign Pettite and watch his demise. I hate that fucker, I hope we dont sign him but I'm not holding my breath.

I agree, this definitely means that the Yankees grew lukewarm toward Lilly when Pettite officially came onto the market. I seriously doubt he'll bring Clemens over with him, but crazier things have happened. I think that Pettite, ever mindful of the Red Sox - Yankee rivalry (he's refused higher offers from the Red Sox out of respect for NY) will pitch for the Yankees because of this childish game of one-upsmanship.

Well, Pettite did just decide to pitch next year rather than retiring. I see him pitching for the Yankees over the Astros at this point though...which would pit rotations of Johnson, Mussina, Pettite, Wang, and Igawa/prospect vs. Schilling, Beckett, Matsuzaka, Papelbon, and Wakefield.

I think Young will be resigned before the year is up. During last season Daniels was saying resigning Young is his top priority and he wants to have it done before his contract is up.

Yah, I was initially going to give my opinion on who would retire, resign, etc. but then I felt like it was too many people so I didn't mention it. I was going to write that there's no way that Michael Young is leaving...he's part of the Ranger's core. Schilling, Smoltz, Johnson, Wickman, Hoffman, and Vizquel could all retire by next year as well. Still, those OF could all get equal or more than Soriano did this year.

This offseason really shows how much of a bargain the Mets got Reyes and Wright at 23M and 55M

But honestly, just wait until next offseason when the real talent gets on the market. Experts admit that this is a weak FA class which makes it so much more amazing that they players are getting these sorts of contracts. Look at this talent that will arrive on the market in 2008.

C - Jorge Posada, Ivan Rodriguez, Michael Barrett, Paul LoDuca

1b - Adam Dunn (/OF)

2b - Jeff Kent, Marcus Giles

SS - Michael Young, Juan Uribe, Carlos Guillen, David Eckstein, Omar Vizquel

3b - Mike Lowell

OF - Bobby Abreu, Ichiro Suzuki, Andruw Jones, Vernon Wells, Torii Hunter, Eric Byrnes, Corey Patterson, Milton Bradley, Aaron Rowand

SP - John Smoltz, Carlos Zambrano, Curt Schilling (says he'll retire), Jason Jennings, Jake Westbrook, Freddy Garcia, Kenny Rogers, Randy Johnson, Doug Davis, Jon Lieber, Bartolo Colon

RP - Joe Nathan, Mariano Rivera, Trevor Hoffman, Jason Isringhausen, Bob Wickman, Scott Linebrink

Sure a couple of these guys will retire, but honestly, with top tier names like Ichiro, Jones, Wells, Zambrano, Nathan, and Young and second tier guys like Dunn, Abreu, Hunter, etc. Just wow.

Drew should have the expectations planted on him of being a 20+ home run guy.

Well, Drew does have loads of potential...nobody can deny that. It's his attitude and injury history which are worrisome. I hope Fenway plays to his strengths.

I'd take Harden over Zito...but that's just me. Scratch that, a healthy Harden.

Rosenthal says the Rangers are out on the run for Piazza meaning that he'll probably end up with the A's.

SI

I don't see this happening though...despite how amazing a player Harden is. The A's survived without him last year but without Zito, they need a healthy Harden to lead their rotation. One can always dream though. Mets are more likely to get Blanton who the A's are also shopping around.

I love how the Drew signing means nothing...even though it could be the final nail in the coffin. The Sox are pushing their limits in how high they can go and need to free up money somehow and all eyes are on Manny. What do you think about Lugo and Lowell being paid the same amount? And awesome? Loretta was good but he was nothing near awesome. Solid AVG, solid OBP, but he was dead last in SLG out of second basemen with enough AB for eligibility and his OPS ranked second to last. This guy was a singles hitter, and despite the flair for the dramatic (I was at that walkoff win against the Indians) and being a good guy, the Red Sox had no room spending in arbitration for a weaker hitter like Loretta. Once again, I love the guy, a class act. I really wanna see Drew and Ramirez both stay though. Our number five hole was murder for us last year and with Drew after Ortiz and Manny, he could help. Plus his high OBP will considerably strengthen the bottom of the lineup with his presence on base. The Red Sox really did clog the bases last year...with Loretta, Gonzalez, and Nixon clogging the bases. Loretta and Nixon were high OBP singles hitters while Gonzalez, though his SLG ranked near the midpoint, didn't get on base at an acceptable rate with an OBP of .299. Barring any more moves on the offense, which obviously isn't the case, the Red Sox would field -

C-Varitek

1b-Youkilis

2b-Pedroia

SS-Lugo

3b-Lowell

RF-Ramirez

CF-Crisp

LF-Drew

DH-Ortiz

That's pretty strong if you ask me. Granted, other than Ortiz and Manny, there are no big 20+ HR threats but I'm hoping the strengthened team as a whole can produce.

? I thought we signed Roberts.

Yah, but this is a Rangers thread.

mainly because Lofton somehow ends up in the world series every year

Shame that you missed out on Roberts though...he seemed to go under everyone's radar this year for a fraction of the cost.

No offense Lorf, but that guy sounds like a true dumbass. He;s bitching about our D? I mean, our D was pretty good.

 

1B: Tex won a gold glove

2B: Kinsler as a rookie playing an unnatural position for him did pretty good, when he was hurt we had Dero who was excellent at 2B. (Kinsler was a SS unbtill his last seasson in the kmonors.

3B: Hank was/is an above average fielding thirdbaseman, thats only going to improve with Washinington.

SS: Mike Young, no explanation needed.

LF: Wilkerson was awesome inb LF fielding, he made killer plays when he was there.

CF: Mathewsd: Cmon, dude was a human highlight reel

RF: Dero spent alot of time there when Kinsler came back, and did great. this year we'll have Cruz whi is pretty damned good.

C: Barajas and Laird, both good catchers.

We lost Dero, but we gained Cat. Our D is good, i dunno what that guy is saying there. As fdor our young pitching, sounds like he is mistaking the NFL for MLB where drafted players come in after 1 year and become stars. We have a ton of minor league and very young major league pitching talent. Thats the worst team annalysis I've ever seen.

Oh, I just threw that in there, it isn't my opinion. I think that the Rangers are a good team and even better with the resigning of Padilla. Their rotation won't be strong enough with the signing of a number one starter so Zito is a must, considering the Rangers don't have any interest in Schmidt as far as I know of. You haven't tackled your biggest problem yet and that's pitching.

A lot depends on some of your key hitters recovering from their regressions in 2006. Blalock, Teixeira (the first half version), and Wilkerson have to all step it up. Blalock actually regressed by 10% in FPCT last year which goes along with his regression as a whole...but we know what he is capable of and he still has a good arm. As for Michael Young, you've heard the arguments...the same guys who argue that Jeter isn't a good fielder. I dunno what to think about any of the teams until the offseason is over. It's hard to make judgements until that magical day when pitchers and catchers report.

Sizing up the AL West as is though, the Rangers would still lag in pitching but probably lead in hitting. A lot depends on who signs Piazza. The Angels still have no hitting but amazing pitching, especially in the bullpen. The A's are the A's of course. And the Mariners...well, I'd want to see King Felix regain his crown just for the sake of baseball. Can't wait until baseball season.

Wow that is a lot of money for a pitcher who has yet to prove himself.

Yah, I was actually considering that a bargain all things considered.

Here's what Joe Sheehan of Baseball Prospectus says about the Rangers:

They keep acting like a team that's close, but I don't see it. Too many question marks, too many defensive issues, too many starting-pitching prospects who never become starting pitchers. If they took a year off from trying so hard, put some gloves behind the young arms and didn't worry about winning the West, they might be better off on the other side.

Padres Close On Maddux

As has been speculated for some time, the Padres are close to signing Greg Maddux. Ken Rosenthal has the scoop; he describes the likely signing as a "significant blow to the Dodgers."

 

Maddux turns 41 next April. Overall in 2006 he won 15 games with a 4.20 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, and 3.2 K/BB. The Professor has reached 199 or more innings every season since 1988. He is one of a kind.

What a great rotation headlined by Peavy and Young with one of the best pitchers of our era teaching them the ropes.

Hopefully Petco will hide some of his diminishing skills. As great a player as he is, he is getting older every year. He doesn't have enough of a track record at Petco to predict anything so just knock on wood. He did survive Dodger Stadium which isn't as much of a pitcher's park as it once was. Holy, he survived Dodger Stadium to the tune of a 1.76 era. Hey, that's great considering that they're now a divisional opponent.