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The Baseball Thread 2007


Tim McG

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OK.

I know it's been a while since I've been here....but it astonishes me that there is no baseball thread on this BBS! :blink:

I am here to start it.

And I'm a Giants fan. :D

You gotta look more closely, and you won't be astonished as much. There's a large, active baseball thread.

Of course that is correct. By tradition, this thread should start April 1.

I'll refrain from any gratuitous comments about being a Giants fan. That's shameful enough.

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OK.

I know it's been a while since I've been here....but it astonishes me that there is no baseball thread on this BBS! :blink:

I am here to start it.

And I'm a Giants fan. :D

You gotta look more closely, and you won't be astonished as much. There's a large, active baseball thread.

Ah, yes...but it is the Hot Stove Thread.

The season is but a month away now and I figured on being the first to fire up a thread to begin the new season.

I like to be proactive about these things :g

Edited by GoodSpeak
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Oh, and as a long suffering Giants fan, I welcome Barry Zito with opened arms! Finally, some bonafide pitching. I further predict that Zito's game will naturally elevate the rest of the guys on the pitching staff. Armando "Strike zone....what strike zone?" Benitez being the most notable exception [ugh. What a tragedy on two legs that guy is.].

As to his contract, with Bonds departing at the end of this season and Benitez will surely get kicked to the curb as well, that will free up a ton of cash. I'm not worried. ;)

Edited by GoodSpeak
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OK.

On to new business:

What are your predictions for this year's standings in the NL and the AL?

I pick the Senators to take the whole thing unless the Browns beat 'em.

ah yes, the senators and browns!

those were great days when there were 16 teams and you knew all the players on all the teams (and kids could organize and play games on sandlots and improvise rules and do their own umpiring.

seen any kids playing baseball without a crappy creepy adult around for 20 years or so?)

time to dig out a red barber broadcast!

Edited by alocispepraluger102
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OK.

On to new business:

What are your predictions for this year's standings in the NL and the AL?

I pick the Senators to take the whole thing unless the Browns beat 'em.

Um.

You might want to meet me half way on this one, Chuck.

Say 1975? ;)

Edited by GoodSpeak
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My most significant prediction right now is that Dice-K mania will sweep the nation. All-Star appearance, 18 or more wins, very strong Cy Young candidacy. He's the real deal, folks. Six pitches he can throw for strikes, and a killer change-up that will make a lot of hitters look silly, a la Santana. There won't be any "second or third time through the league, the hitters will adjust and he'll get pounded" - he has too many weapons. He'll get pounded when he doesn't have a feel for his pitches and makes mistakes, and of course there is a chance that he will have trouble adjusting to the 5 man rotation. (He averaged 138 pitches per start last season - Schilling was in the top five in the AL at something like 105!)

Unfortunately I can't be so optimistic about the rest of my team's chances; too many question marks regarding the closer situation, how Beckett adjusts to the AL, Papelbon adjusts to starting, how much time Drew spends on the field, whether Crisp has a bounce back year. I'm optimistic about Crisp and Papelbon, moderately optimistic on Beckett, somewhat optimistic about closer, and pessimistic on Drew, but we'll see.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Yeah, two major stories breaking today:

LaRussa arrested on suspicion of drunk driving

Couldn't happen to a nicer guy. Supposedly his car was observed stopped at a light, which went through several cycles without moving. The officer said he was initially nonresponsive, and that the car was in gear with his foot on the break. Lucky it didn't slip off while he was passed out drunk.

Papelbon to return to pen as closer

I'm still looking for definite confirmation, but Schilling has already posted about it on his blog so its obviously true. The positives are that he's done a great job strengthening his shoulder and I am sure that by not abusing him the way they did last year, he will both excel again, and stay healthy for the whole year. The big negative to me is that I really wanted to see what he could do as a starter. I do however believe that he will still end up in the rotation eventually. There are tremendous power arms getting ready to knock at the door, like Bryce Cox and then Daniel Bard. And there's still hope for Craig Hansen.

Now, who takes his spot in the rotation? The obvious choice to me is Tavarez, who has said he prefers to start and does better pitching when it matters. He did well in September, he's got a rubber arm that can probably handle seven plus innings regularly. Best of all, he can't screw the team with a single pitch as a starter.

An alternative is Kyle Snyder but I think he has the potential to be an impact arm as a set up man and I'd prefer to see him there.

Two things are obvious to me though:

1) They want to bring Lester in to take this spot as soon as possible. They've really babied him in ST so far because they want to make sure he's regained his strength after the chemo treatments.

2) This makes the Red Sox more serious about pursuing Clemens. It was said that there wouldn't be room for Clemens, but with Paps in the pen, its a no-brainer that Clemens replaces Tavarez, Snyder or Lester. It helps in that pursuit to the extent that Clemens sees that his wins aren't in jeapordy by a questionable bullpen. Now, everyone can settle into roles they've performed before - Timlin, when he's ready, Donnelly, Okajima, Romero. Its up to the former starters, Piniero and Snyder, to show what they can do in short relief. Snyder, I have hopes for, Piniero has a lot to prove -though he's working on a stretch of about ten appearances without allowing a run, so maybe he's settling into a groove.

obviously, they didn't feel that they could go into the season without knowing with that much uncertainty about the back end of the bullpen.

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Matsuzaka on the cover of Sports Illustrated's MLB preview issue...

Will the notorious "SI cover jinx" apply? :o

I think the SI jinx is over ....sox won the series , everytime they had Brady on the cover he won 3 rings

even Beyonce is doing Great ....all jinxes are over !!!!!!!!

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