The 2012 MLB Thread

[zonarob]

I used to hate baseball and now it's one of my favorite sports. Never really played it either.

Greatest team sport ever. Period! I have high hopes for the Dbacks as well. Playoff games @ Chase.....?

[TomAz]

[Miroir Noir]

The Boston Red Sox will be off the national radar screen this year

No, they will continue to be the second-most written about and analyzed team in the sport. As you point out, they have all the pieces to be good. And if they're horrible, it's an even better story. There's no such thing as an under the radar season for the Yankees, Red Sox, Phillies, or Mets.

[TomAz]

though the Mets seem to be trying for exactly that.

[Miroir Noir]

True. The best Mets story of last year was the revelation that they still own Bobby Bonilla $30 million in deferred payments.

[GuyInTucson]

I used to hate baseball and now it's one of my favorite sports. Never really played it either.

I am the exact opposite. I grew up playing baseball from age 5 to 17. I played on travelling AAU and American Legion teams instead of high school. Could have played in college if I wasn't a moron about my school work. Used to LOVE the sport. The last 10 years or so have killed a lot of my love for the sport. Now, if it's not about the Indians, I really don't care.

I will stay interested until the Indians are out of it, which will probably be sometime in mid June.

[summerkid]

What does it matter, San Diego will get antsy and trade it for run-of-the-mill talent anyways.

Not until they become unaffordable, the thing is that now that we have all this talent loaded in the minors which quite a few of those guys will be major league ready next year it will allow the Padres to trade some guys off the major league roster to continue to reload the system. I really expect Chase Headley and Richard or Stauffer to be traded after this season to make room for Gyorko, Erlin, Wieland, and Kelly. Plus, if we do not contend this year we can move Carlos Quentin (look what Beltran got the Mets at the deadline), Volquez, and Street. Point is while the Padres improved in the offseason and won't be quite as bad as last season 2013 onwards the Padres should be able to contend.

[Gribbz]

Curt Schilling just admitted that every player he beaned in his career was 100% intentional. I know it's the minority opinion, but Curt Schilling is the man.

[TomAz]

Or, he "admits" it now because he wants you to think he's the man without having anybody to be accountable to for it.

[Miroir Noir]

Every pitch intentional, every sock bloody, every story true.

[Gribbz]

Curt Schilling wouldn't lie to me.

[rag and bone]

If you read this story about Diamondbacks CEO Derrick Hall's dealings with prostate cancer this past year and don't subsequently root for the snakes you are officially null and void as a human being. Sorry. Just the facts.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slu..._cancer_013012

[santasutt]

There's no such thing as an under the radar season for the Yankees, Red Sox, Phillies, or Mets.

The Sox have always enjoyed regional popularity but, for most of my baseball-watching lifetime,they have not been the national powerhouses like the Yankees and Dodgers. This whole Red Sox Nation thing has blossomed over the last 10-15 years. And the Werner-Lucchino-Henry ownership is largely responsible, for better or worse.

[LickTheLizzard]

If you read this story about Diamondbacks CEO Derrick Hall's dealings with prostate cancer this past year and don't subsequently root for the snakes you are officially null and void as a human being. Sorry. Just the facts.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slu..._cancer_013012

Hell of an article. This part really got me.

He pulled out a notepad and started listing everything he would miss by dying young.

— I’m not going to walk Kylie down the aisle
— I’m not going to see what Hayden becomes
— I’m not going to see Logan play college tennis
— I won’t grow old with Amy
— I won’t see the Diamondbacks win a World Series

[Gribbz]

Shouldn't the brothers Powell be Pirates fans?


















omgjk <3

[LickTheLizzard]

I still pull for the Pirates...but I grew up going to Diamondback games.

[Geno_g]

Heard talk of bonds maybe swinging a bat for a team... Crazy talk but A's are talking to him since he just got approval by court to carry and use a bat...

[GuyInTucson]

I encountered Curt Schilling when he played for the D-Backs during spring training. My friend and I took his son to meet some of the players at some meet and greet (or something of that nature, it was a decade ago). Other friends of mine have met him as well. The consensus is that he is one of the biggest pieces of shit we have ever come across.

[Still-ill]

I find it weird that he makes video games for a living now.

[buddy]

Along the Yankees paying the majority of Burnett's contract, I think they should be the one to send a thank you note, and possibly a Jeter gift basket.

ESPN

The New York Yankees and Pittsburgh Pirates have a framework in place for a possible A.J. Burnett deal and are working through conditions in that framework, baseball sources said Sunday.

The Yankees have been engaged in talks with four teams but the Pirates have emerged as the front-runner, sources said.

One of the clubs was among teams Burnett can veto per his contract, a source said, and the right-hander was unwilling to give in on that team. It was uncertain what teams were in the bidding for Burnett beyond Pittsburgh.

The Pirates and Yankees began their discussions with lots of common ground because New York wants to move Burnett, who is owed $33 million for the next two seasons, and Pittsburgh has been looking for a veteran starter who can provide innings.

As a Yankee, Burnett is 34-35 with a 4.79 ERA.

The two teams haven't agreed on the dollar figure the Yankees will eat to facilitate the trade, and they haven't agreed on the players that the Pirates will send to the Yankees.

But they have found enough common ground that Pittsburgh is now the clear front-runner.

A source familiar with the negotiations had told ESPNNewYork's Wallace Matthews on Saturday that the talks had "legs" and were "real."

But Pirates right fielder Garrett Jones, a left-handed bat whom the Yankees coveted, had been taken off the table, according to the source.

With the serious trade talks going on the Yankees have paused their pursuit of a designated hitter in the free agent market.

They are doing so, a baseball official said, because they want to see if they receive someone who could DH in a possible deal for Burnett.

If the Yankees don't receive a DH-type in a deal for Burnett or don't trade Burnett at all, then they are likely to sign one of either Raul Ibanez, Johnny Damon or Hideki Matsui or another free agent DH still on the market.

The Yankees are willing to deal Burnett because they don't have a place in their rotation for him. They acquired Michael Pineda and Hiroki Kuroda, leaving Phil Hughes, Freddy Garcia and Burnett to fight it out for the fifth spot.

Even with top prospect Manny Banuelos and Dellin Betances needing more seasoning in the minors , the Yankees think they have organization depth with Adam Warren, David Phelps and D.J. Mitchell. All three could be ready if the Yankees need to call up a spot starter due to injury.

[kronz420]

I encountered Curt Schilling when he played for the D-Backs during spring training. My friend and I took his son to meet some of the players at some meet and greet (or something of that nature, it was a decade ago). Other friends of mine have met him as well. The consensus is that he is one of the biggest pieces of shit we have ever come across.

That honor goes to Roger Clemens... Trust me

[GolfWang]

Along the Yankees paying the majority of Burnett's contract, I think they should be the one to send a thank you note, and possibly a Jeter gift basket.

ESPN

NOOOOOOOOOO. Burnett is my favorite Yankee, by far.

[paulb]

Lol, get rid of AJ! Take anything!

[Miroir Noir]

I don't get the point of trading him before spring training. Why don't we wait until we find out if anyone gets injured before we trade him for prospects? It's not like they're going to fill any needs or really save any payroll by dealing him now.

[buddy]

I don't get the point of trading him before spring training. Why don't we wait until we find out if anyone gets injured before we trade him for prospects? It's not like they're going to fill any needs or really save any payroll by dealing him now.

They are doing so, a baseball official said, because they want to see if they receive someone who could DH in a possible deal for Burnett.

If the Yankees don't receive a DH-type in a deal for Burnett or don't trade Burnett at all, then they are likely to sign one of either Raul Ibanez, Johnny Damon or Hideki Matsui or another free agent DH still on the market.

The Yankees are willing to deal Burnett because they don't have a place in their rotation for him. They acquired Michael Pineda and Hiroki Kuroda, leaving Phil Hughes, Freddy Garcia and Burnett to fight it out for the fifth spot.

Even with top prospect Manny Banuelos and Dellin Betances needing more seasoning in the minors , the Yankees think they have organization depth with Adam Warren, David Phelps and D.J. Mitchell. All three could be ready if the Yankees need to call up a spot starter due to injury.

It seems they have too many spots, and are comfortable with either Garcia or Hughes filling that spot, for whoever doesn't make the fifth starter spot. I actually think Burnett will do well in Pittsburgh, well better than he has in New York, if the trade goes through. It was never a question if Burnett's stuff was good, it was just a mental thing with him, and he never really seemed comfortable in New York.

[Grandma]

so the A's signed yoenis cespedes...discuss

[TomAz]

That's a lot of $ for a guy who has never seen a big league pitch.

[Miroir Noir]

Mannyball!

[Miroir Noir]

Braun wins appeal of 50 game PED suspension.

[Grandma]

Mannyball!

I admire the A's for the sheer fact that they've been able to sign nearly every player I cared for the most in 1995 (including Matsui!) within the last several seasons. All in a ball park so shitty(it was once a good park until that fucking dinosaur Al Davis built a goddamned concrete sarcophagus in the outfield) that there is more urine amongst the Food Court concourse than in the fucking toilets. I've spent more on gas to get myself to Oakland from San Jose and back than I do on a ticket, a beer, and a hot dog. Keep your half-assed baseball club out of my city.

Braun wins appeal of 50 game PED suspension.

I really would like to know how in the hell he got around this. Not just some Buster Olney horseshit but some fucking facts...