Thoughts on the 2nd half of MLB

[faithdies]

A Quality start is 6 innings and 3 runs not 5 and 4.

[Drtyrm]

Ortiz has some sort of injury, I'll try and scare up more details. Dunno what Manny's issue is this year.

[Akileese]

Originally Posted by Drtyrm

Ortiz has some sort of injury, I'll try and scare up more details. Dunno what Manny's issue is this year.

Torn Miniscus. Doesn't require surgery. He'll probably get it operated on sometime in the off-season.

As for the quality start. I was referring to what most gms consider a "quality start" not the official number. It's ironic that most people were ripping Gil Meche, but he's near the top in ERA and quality starts.

[Blumpster]

He has a torn meniscus. He's had it all season.

Pfff, lol. Nice post timing.

[Akileese]

nice, beat you by like, seconds

But I'm a biut worried about boston. If Lugo/Drew boost their OPS, I wont be nearly as worried though.

As for Boston and A-Rod, the general consensus is that they could let Schilling go (and probably will) and will use Clay Bucholz in his spot and probably keep Tavarez at the 5th. As has been said, we have Paps, Okajima, and Delcarmen as our big three. Cheap and very effective.

I just don't like anyone who like that. The guy has made an absurd amount of money and wants more (little advice buddy, finish your divorce before the season so she doesn't take half of your NEW contract from all those she-male strippers you've been with).

[Danubus]

All I know is the Cardinals wont catch either the Cubs or Brewers to win the central this year. They just wont get the pieces back in time to make a push and everytime they do win a game the other teams ahead of them win also. In the West I am picking the Dodgers, because they got a decent team and their management isnt afraid to get whoever they need.

In the AL I am picking Boston because they have a solid team all around and Im picking Seattle.

As for who wins it all. I think Boston will win it all against the Mets or Cubs.

[Ham n Cheese]

Originally Posted by Ham n Cheese

AL:
Boston, New York (can't be against them yet!), Detroit, Angels

NL:
Dodgers, Brewers (WC), Cardinals, Mets

Cardinals making me look a fool, but now the Yankees are only 2GB of the WC~

[Akileese]

Polanco broke the errorless record last night.
"Placido Polanco of the Detroit Tigers set a major league record for second basemen by playing his 144th straight game without an error in a 7-2 loss to the Oakland Athletics on Monday night."

Pretty impressive considering that second base has to make a lot of tough defensive plays and along with shortstop is probably one of the most prone positions to defensive errors.

[kcxiv]

Well my team completely fell apart. They just dont have the bats. I been saying it all year, but it finally caught up to us. Dodgers need some damn power hitters. At least 1. lol

[Ham n Cheese]

Had a chance to get Texiera, though you guys are pretty loaded at 1B with Nomar and Loney. Loney is going to be such a stud, I hear he's what the rangers were asking so I don't blame you, though if you're in the "win now" mindset, you gotta make that deal when you have the chance I guess

[kcxiv]

They just fell flat on their face. I think it may be time to get rid of Ned. Check this out. I stole this from a Dodger forum.

Jason Schmidt - 3 Years/ $47 Million
Six starts…6.31 ERA…One win…One season ending surgery…Is his career over?...I don’t think anyone truly knows including himself and Ned. Disaster.

Juan Pierre - 5 Years/ $44 Million
The stolen bases have been impressive but that’s about hit. If he’s not hitting well over .300 then he’s not going to get on base enough to have the expected impact. Just doesn’t walk enough…hit’s the ball in the air WAY too much. He gets to a lot of balls in the outfield BUT I would say his defense is below average due to his completely ineffective arm. Not only does he not throw out runners but I’ve never seen a player’s weakness taken advantage of more than his arm. Last Saturday night Livan Hernandez went first to third on a base hit to LEFT CENTER!! What hurts even more is that Kenny Lofton and Juan Pierre are the same person…except for the fact that Lofton would’ve signed a 1 Year/ $6 Million contract…and produced more…look at the stats over the last two years…it’s not even close as to who has been a better player. Lofton would’ve acted as a bridge with a great group of center field free agents on the market next year (Cameron, Rowand, Hunter, and Jones).

Nomar Garciaparra - 2 Years/ $18.5 Million
The power just isn’t there anymore. Ned’s hands were tied somewhat with this one because JD Drew opted out. I think that the Dodgers would’ve let Nomar walk had Drew stayed in LA. His defense is so-so…he doesn’t work counts…he blocked Loney…now he’s blocking Laroche…I just don’t know what his place is going to be on this team next year.

Luis Gonzalez - 1 Year/ $7.35 Million
Gonzo has been what we all thought he was going to be. The pop has declined dramatically this year. He’s on pace to finish around 25-28 doubles when he had 52 last year and his slugging percentage is down for the fifth consecutive year. In the end he’s been as advertised. My biggest problem with this signing is that like the Pierre/Lofton comparison Gonzo and Andre Ethier have produced at a nearly identical level. The major difference between the two is that Ethier is a superior defender. Gonzo’s defense is magnified with Pierre next to him. If you are going to build a team like the one we have now you better be able to get two out hits and play sound defense because the margin for error is going to be slim from game to game.

Randy Wolf - 1 Year/ $8 Million
We took a chance and it looks like it didn’t work. Wolf had an outstanding May but that was sandwiched by a poor April and June. Not much more too say here.

This has to be the worst 125 million dollar pay roll ever assembled. I was so upset when we didnt sign a power hitter. I thought well, our pitching would make up for it. It didnt.lol

[Ham n Cheese]

Well I can't call any of those signings bad outside of Schmidt. Though every pitcher ended up getting overpaid and he just is one of many not falling through with it. The Nomar contract is fine since it's short and the Pierre one is also fine to me because the guy gets on base a lot and is always stealing. I guess they thought they could play small ball all season, probably wearing the shit out of the players... or maybe someone was delusional and thought Luis was gonna hit 40+ again

[kcxiv]

Originally Posted by Ham n Cheese

Well I can't call any of those signings bad outside of Schmidt. Though every pitcher ended up getting overpaid and he just is one of many not falling through with it. TheNomar contract is fine since it's short and the Pierre one is also fine to me because the guy gets on base a lot and is always stealing. I guess they thought they could play small ball all season, probably wearing the shit out of the players... or maybe someone was delusional and thought Luis was gonna hit 40+ again

He was delussional. Gonzo is solid still. He's not horrible, but lets be real, he's just about done.


We needed a power hitter. We have no one that can hit a home run on a consistent basis. Our homerun leader is our catcher i beleive with 12. Thats bad. We may not have a 20 home run player this year. I don't think this has been done before.

I really hope the Dodgers can somehow Sign Alex Rodriquez. He's not going to be in New York next year i beleive. I know thats a huge reach, but hell, why the fuck not.

[Akileese]

Originally Posted by Ham n Cheese

Well I can't call any of those signings bad outside of Schmidt. Though every pitcher ended up getting overpaid and he just is one of many not falling through with it. The Nomar contract is fine since it's short and the Pierre one is also fine to me because the guy gets on base a lot and is always stealing. I guess they thought they could play small ball all season, probably wearing the shit out of the players... or maybe someone was delusional and thought Luis was gonna hit 40+ again

The Pierre signing was the second worst out of the bunch. What getting on base are you speaking of? His .283 avg? His .320 OBP (he doesn't draw ANY walks). If almost 10 million a year is worthy of a sub 300 hitter with poor defense, then there is something more wrong in baseball than steroids.

Schmidt was terrible and no one will deny that. I have problems with the Nomar signing because he's untradeable and they're blocking Loney. Not only that, but rather than play Pierre, they could be getting more at bats to Ethier and Kemp.

[kcxiv]

Lets not forget Pierre's pea shooter arm. I have never seen a weaker arm out in center field. If he can get on base, Pierre is amazing, the problem is he has trouble at times getting on base.