Spring Training 2008

[Guest Beastalentier]

I've come to accept that Dusty's "old-school wisdom" will be celebrated by people who still believe bunting the runner over is the one true way to play the game of baseball, but what really chaps my ass is how he's given any credit for being a "great manager of people." The Chicago clubhouse was an absolute mess, and everyone on the outside got very very tired of "everybody everywhere is out to get us" when it yielded sixty-six wins. He didn't know "just what to say to just the right guy" when he sat in the dugout and basically left Mark Prior standing there with his dick in his hands while the universe seemed to implode around him. He couldn't keep Sammy Sosa from being a malignant dumbass, either. How did he get this great "people person" reputation? Because Barry Bonds didn't roid-rage-ass-kick his teammates in front of a camera?

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

I don't have any kind of problem with not liking Dusty Baker as a manager, or Joe Morgan as an announcer. It's just when people puff out their chest and pretend they know more about baseball than these guys. Does that make any sense? Like, I hate Isiah Thomas, but the guy knows more about basketball than I do. I think that sort of makes sense.

 

Second-guessing the manager (or head coach, GM or what have you) is a part of sports culture. Every baseball city has a group of fans and a sports columnist/radio guy who wants the manager's head. Managers become the scapegoat for anything that goes wrong, be it a failure for a player to develop, a litany of pitcher injuries, etc. There are parts of the job such as strategy and assigning playing time that are fairly accessible to the average fan. What most fans don't realize is that there are other parts of the job they don't see. Working with the media, training players, setting up a routine, etc.

 

They are not immune to criticism though, and quite a few get into deep water when they try and analyze past performance. When a Joe Morgan says something like pitcher wins are all that matters, it's frustrating.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

One other thing is that with a rookie ball 18 year old, don't expect him to jump to the Majors right away. This kid is a long ways away.

 

 

Don't forget that catchers are notorious for being late bloomers as well. I'm not sure what it is about the position, but it seems like many guys don't hit their stride until their mid-to-late 20s.

 

With Montero, even if his defense blossoms in the next few years, it might be hard to crack the major league team. Pitchers often call the shots when it comes to what catchers they will use, and a young kid with sketchy English skills and gamecalling experience could be at a disadvantage.

Most players don't hit their stride until their mid to late 20s, regardless of position. Several recent catchers have reached the majors and excelled at a young age recently, including Russell Martin, Brian McCann, Joe Mauer.

 

As far as the English language, isn't that a silly statement? Over a third of the catchers in the league right now come from Latin America, and now Kenji Johjima has performed admirably coming over from Japan.

 

Im looking forward to seeing Matt Wieters in an Os uniform as early as late this year, but definitely as a starter next year. He was considered one of the top hitting prospects in last years draft and was compared by everyone to Mauer.

[Guest frostdude1]

My 2008 predictions for the regular season and playoffs

 

http://clutchiseverything.wordpress.com/20...lb-predictions/

 

[geniusMoment 0]

My predictions are:

 

NL Central

1. Cubs--strong lineup,if they get Roberts maybe the best lineup in the NL

2. Brewers--bullpen and Sheets health are questions

3. Reds--young talent, maybe the most in baseball, but still a year away from competing for real

4. Astros--still have Oswalt, that puts them ahead of the cards who don't have carpenter. Tejada is a big key, and Hunter Pence all year improves the offense

5. Cardinals--wow, that pitching staff, beyond bad, it's amazing how far they've fallen since the world series

6. Pirates--they're the pirates

 

NL East

1. Mets--Santana added means at least a few more wins and the division

2. Philly--Maybe the best offense in the NL

3. Atlanta--Glavine doesn't mean much, but they'll be solid

4. Nationals--First year in new park, what will Pena do in his first real staring role 60 HR's or .230 with 200 strike outs?

5. Marlins--Traded away Willis (good) but traded Cabrera too (very bad), why is this still a team?

 

NL West

1. Arizona--Added Haren, along with Webb the best 1-2 combo in the NL

2. San Diego--Playing in a unique park (in that it is such an extreme pitcher's park) gives them an advantage, hint--more teams should build pitching parks

3. Colorado--I don't really believe that their run was a total fluke, but still, they aren't as good as they played in Aug./Sept.

4. LA--Really, they have a good shot to be better than the Rockies, and really could win the division, actually everyone but SF could

5. San Fransico--Just a terrible team, hopefully they trade Matt Cain and Tim Lincecum to the reds for Juan Castro

 

 

Wild Card--Phillies

NL Champ--Arizona--Webb and Haren in a short series, damn

 

 

AL Central

1. Detriot--Cabrera is one of the best in baseball, added to an already potent lineup makes them better and central champs

2. Cleveland--Solid young team, if they were in any NL Division I'd pick them as NL Champs

3. Chicago--Twins lost Santana and Hunter, Delmon Young is a good pick up, but Liriano needs to prove he is healthy before they even think about competing

4. Twins--Again, Liriano is great if healthy, Mauer and Morneau along with Young give them a solid base, if they were in the NL Central they'd compete all year

5. Royals--You just know Alex Gordon will be a bust, he's a Royal after all

 

NL East

1. Red Sox--I'm sick of them too

2. Yankees--I'm sick of them too

3. Blue Jays--I think more of Rolen than most, and Eckstein is underrated at leadoff, Burnett is finally healthy and BJ Ryan is back, rays need to prove it first

4. Rays--dropped the devil, have tons of young talent like Cincy, need to prove it first, could move into third

5. Orioles--the worst team in the history of organized sports, have a legit shot at going 2-160

 

AL West

1. Angels--tons of young talent, love watching Vlad hit

2. Mariners--added great starter in Erik Bedard, Silva is overpaid but is good enough back of rotation guy

3. Texas--added Mickey Mantle and Roy Hobbes reincarnate ( I know one of those is a fictional character) keep clean Josh

4. Oakland--a rebuilding year, added young players but really have a chance to be a very bad team

 

Wildcard--Cleveland

Champs--Cleveland (again pitching in a short series)

 

 

World Series

Cleveland Rocks, finally a champion for Ohio

[Mike wanna be 0]

Webb and Haren in a short series, damn? What's that leave for Santana, Pedro & El Duque in a best-of-seven with Maine, Perez & potentially Pelfrey inexplicably left out of the starting rotation?

[geniusMoment 0]

If it were Pedro from a few years ago I would take the Mets. El Duque is like 50 now

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

So the Yankees signed Billy Crystal to a contract? Seems like more of a Brian Sabean move to me.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Danny Haren doesn't scare me. He's effective, but he's not dominant.

[TheDevilAndGodAreRagingInsideMe 0]

Kaz Matsui got torn a new asshole. Literally.

 

Astros second baseman Kaz Matsui is expected to miss four or five days after being diagnosed with a condition known as anal fissure.

 

Matsui, who returned to central Florida on Monday night, will go through individual workouts at the team facility but will not play until at least Friday. Doctors have prescribed a different medication to help alleviate the problem.

 

Yeah.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

Danny Haren doesn't scare me. He's effective, but he's not dominant.

 

 

Take away Haren's ungodly first half last year (and his .234 BABIP) and his numbers have been fairly pedestrian over the past few seasons. He throws a ton of innings at a slightly above average ERA, but he's not a dominant #1 starter. Take away cavernous Oakland Stadium with the A's great defense and he might start to look very average.

 

I would love to have him as a starter on my team, especially with that contract, but Oakland sold high on him.

[TheDevilAndGodAreRagingInsideMe 0]

Haren as a #2 guy in the NL could do some damage, though.

 

Are the projected W-L records available yet?

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

Haren as a #2 guy in the NL could do some damage, though.

 

Are the projected W-L records available yet?

 

Which projections? I posted some of the PECOTA projections a few weeks ago (which spawned several pages of Rays bantering).

[TheDevilAndGodAreRagingInsideMe 0]

I'm not too up on all these things, so I choose whichever is the most reliable one.

 

Is there somewhere to get the 07 ones to compare them against the actual final standings, also?

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Baseball Prospectus is sometimes behind subscriber walls. It's hit or miss to find anything.

 

Baseballthinkfactory.org's Dan Symbowski has his ZipS projections available. They're not hyped up, but they are reasonably effective and free. There is a spreadsheet available for download.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

I would also note that using projections are better when you understand that you're looking at groups and general trends, not outright predictions.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

Most projection systems build in so much regression that the guys the margins (the stars and scrubs) have really conservative estimates. It usually nails most of the guys in the middle of the pack, but hell I could do that with a standard 3-2-1 estimate. It's not so much a "prediction" of performance, but rather a mean estimate of possible performances.

 

I'm also not sure if we are talking individual player projections or team projections either. Bauer seems to be asking for team projections (which I won't post because it's subscriber info), but Al is mentioning player projections (several are available from fangraphs.com).

[Guest Beastalentier]

The Chicago Cubs released Shingo Takatsu. Kosuke Fukudome has no more friends.

[treble 0]

http://majorleaguedowntown.com/default.aspx

 

I know this has been floating around for a while, but still, a couple things:

a) While the park looks cool, the roof is WAY too close to Olympic Stadium, and we all know how well that turned out.

b) This actually has nothing to do with the stadium, but something I've been wondering; If the Rays' new name is supposed to evoke images of the sun, or whatever, then why are the uniforms dark blue? Also, 'Tampa Bay Rays' sounds stupid, just drop the 'Bay' out of the name, even if they don't play in the actual city of Tampa, no one cares. Wouldn't be too hard to change the cap logo, either.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

I think the stadium mock-up is real cool and breaks the monotony of some of the new parks (look at the new Nationals or Yankees parks for great architecture, but an uninspired design). Anything to help them carve out a niche.

[treble 0]

I agree that it looks cool, but the roof is way too similar to what they tried to use at Olympic Stadium, and that never worked right. I know that technology is better today, but I still think everyone should stay as far away from that design as possible.

[Guest Vitamin X]

I don't know why they couldn't have changed "Devil" to "Sting". Tampa Bay Stingrays.

[Guest Beastalentier]

b) This actually has nothing to do with the stadium, but something I've been wondering; If the Rays' new name is supposed to evoke images of the sun, or whatever, then why are the uniforms dark blue?

Here's my question: if they're supposed to be "rays of the sun," and people get fined for calling them "the Devil Rays," then

 

<---WHY IS THERE A DEVIL RAY ON THE SLEEVE

 

I think they have a passable design, but the dark/light blue thing is overdone. Maybe a blue/green/yellow color scheme would look kinda Gulf-y.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

While we are on the subject (sort of) of uniforms, what's up with those wretched blue Phillies uniforms? Hey Al, who's making the sartorial choices over at Citizens?

[Guest Beastalentier]

The Phillies wear blue shirts in spring training now and then. I don't know why, though. I think they should go back to burgundy, because nobody else looks like that. Also, red pinstripes on white = pink.

[Smartly Pretty 0]

 

Those are really cool.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

I don't know why they couldn't have changed "Devil" to "Sting". Tampa Bay Stingrays.

 

I thought they could have gone with the Tampa Bays

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

 

Those are really cool.

I actually bought one of those jerseys at the Majestic Store in Pen Argyl.

 

The blue tops are their standard Spring Training top.

[TheDevilAndGodAreRagingInsideMe 0]

Those look like the color scheme of the early 90's California Angels.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

The pictured unis are their home Sunday uniforms. They are a takeoff of their 1948 design.