Major League Baseball 2010

[Ananas]

I think maybe Ron should just let Mike Maddux manage the bullpen for the rest of the series. That was absolutely brutal. Managers who save their closers for "save situations" in situations like that absolutely deserve the negative results. You've got a day off tomorrow. You're down 2-0 in the game. You're 3 outs away from being down 2-0 in the series. They've got the top of the Giants lineup due-up. How do you let your closer sit on the bench through ANY of that debacle, much let all of it? O'Day is a very good reliever, but he'd thrown 13 pitches and gave up a home run 24 hours ago. Your closer, one of the most dominant closers in the American league in 2010, hasn't pitched in 10 days. You have to pitch to be IN the game, not just sit back and wait for a save situation. Absolutely wretched.

[RazorsEdge]

I think maybe Ron should just let Mike Maddux manage the bullpen for the rest of the series. That was absolutely brutal. Managers who save their closers for "save situations" in situations like that absolutely deserve the negative results. You've got a day off tomorrow. You're down 2-0 in the game. You're 3 outs away from being down 2-0 in the series. They've got the top of the Giants lineup due-up. How do you let your closer sit on the bench through ANY of that debacle, much let all of it? O'Day is a very good reliever, but he'd thrown 13 pitches and gave up a home run 24 hours ago. Your closer, one of the most dominant closers in the American league in 2010, hasn't pitched in 10 days. You have to pitch to be IN the game, not just sit back and wait for a save situation. Absolutely wretched.

Agreed, Feliz should've come in. I dunno what's going on with Ron Washington but he suddenly seems incapable of making the right decisions. The Giants are playing good, but Jesus Christ was Kinsler unlucky or what? I thought that ball was gone for a home run for sure.

[Meacon Keaton]

I was fairly certain the Giants were the better team heading into the Series, which is why I picked them to win. But I didn't expect the Rangers to roll over and take it up the ass like this.

[HailtotheYo]

I still don't think that people see the quality of the entire staff the Rangers have. There's also the fact that this will be the weakest of the 3 lineups they've faced.

Oops

^ this ...

Agreed, Feliz should've come in. I dunno what's going on with Ron Washington but he suddenly seems incapable of making the right decisions. The Giants are playing good, but Jesus Christ was Kinsler unlucky or what? I thought that ball was gone for a home run for sure.

^ these ...

But I didn't expect the Rangers to roll over and take it up the ass like this.

^ and that.

Holy fuck. Well, Dire Straits it is. Hopefully Lewis can turn in a third fantastic performance. The Giants are absolutely playing out of their minds though ... wonder if they can keep it up down in Texas. Rangers need to blow them out of the water in Game 3.

[gunnar hendershow]

Madison Bumgarner just had one of the best pitching performances ever in the World Series. Giants one win away, they'll either win this in 6 or they really are cursed.

[HailtotheYo]

This was the last thing I ever expected to happen. Just, wow.

[Ananas]

You feel that, folks? This is the weird feeling of actually being happy for a World Series Champion, the first time in a while.

Congrats to the San Francisco Giants, 2010 WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS!

[gunnar hendershow]

You feel that, folks? This is the weird feeling of actually being happy for a World Series Champion, the first time in a while.

Congrats to the San Francisco Giants, 2010 WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS!

Seconded, San Francisco's a great city and the team has a lot of guys who definitely deserve a ring. Congrats to them.

[RazorsEdge]

I was rooting for the Rangers, but I'm happy for the Giants - they deserved to win with the way they played all through the playoffs. One thing that makes it even more exciting though, is the fact that this Giants pitching staff could be around for a long, long time. I don't think that the Giants are going to have to wait anywhere near as long to win their next World Series this time.

[DMN in the House]

Fuck the Giants, fuck their battery chucking fans, fuck Juan Marichal, and fuck Willie Mays.

WORST.WORLD.CHAMPIONS.EVER.

Fuck Bobby Thompson, too.

I'm not bitter or anything. Just to be unbiased, fuck the McCourts too. This could have been the Dodgers. Un-fucking-acceptable.

Congrats to Barry Zito.

>_>

[naiwf]

Tim Lincecum is a beast. That is all.

[Powerhart]

The power and talent is in the hair.

[HailtotheYo]

Jeebus.

Congrats Giants. I knew the pitching was there but talk about the most timely emergence of an offense, ever. Wow.

And while all of the attention and everything is on the pitching staff (and rightfully so) I'd like to reserve my love and adoration for Buster Posey. THAT GUY is fucking great.

[RazorsEdge]

This offseason is going to be interesting.

Adrian Beltre has declined his option with the Red Sox and looks to test the free agent market. Plus the BoSox have to decide whether they wanna pick up Big Papi's option for this year or try and negotiate a smaller contract.

The Reds declined their options for Orlando Hudson and Aaron Harang but are going to keep Bronson Arroyo and Jonny Gomes.

The A's have exercised their options for Coco Crips and Mark Ellis but declined Eric Chavez's $12.5M option.

Vlad's option with the Rangers was declined but apparently both parties want to work something out.

Jose Reyes is staying with the Mets after they picked up his option.

Aramis Ramirez has decided to stay with the Cubs.

And then of course the confirmed free agents: Cliff Lee, Carl Crawford, Adam Dunn, Carlos Pena, Paul Konerko, Derrek Lee, Aubrey Huff, Juan Uribe, Pat Burrell, plus Mariano Rivera, Derek Jeter and Andy Pettite are all free agents for the Yankees, not that they will go anywhere.

We could see some pretty big names moving around this year. I could see the Yankees pursuing Beltre or Crawford for the DH spot, especially if they don't end up getting Cliff Lee.

[gunnar hendershow]

Why would you pursue Beltre for DH? He's a defensive monster.

There are some big names out there, and I'm curious to see where a few of them go. They can't all be Yankees. And the negotiations with Jeter could test Hal Steinbrenner's mettle. Money shouldn't be a factor for the Yanks, nor contract length. But he's a new owner and could attack the situation with a different philosophy.

[Meacon Keaton]

I seriously doubt money is going to be an issue for the Yankees or Jeter. The Yanks want him to stay. Jeter wants to stay. The big thing in that negotiation is going to be whether the Yankees let Jeter know he's moving to the outfield in another year or two, and how he responds to it.

Mo' Rivera isn't going anywhere, either.

We're incredibly interested in Carl Crawford, but I hear the Angels are too. So it should be interesting to see how that develops.

[gunnar hendershow]

I would agree Jeter's not going anywhere, same with Mo. But since the two of them will obviously be Yankee priorities, if Hal causes negotiations to drag on a bit we could see other teams able to sweep in and take some free agents the Yanks would otherwise by interested in signing.

[Ananas]

Why on earth would Carl Crawford be pursued by the Yankees to DH? That'd be like trading for Michael Bourn on the condition that he doesn't try to steal bases. Carl Crawford is a plus-plus defender, and if he isn't giving you defense then he's less valuable to you than to other teams. I honestly don't think Crawford is that good a fit for New York. He and Gardner are both plus-plus left fielders, but neither really has the arm for right. Unless you move Gardner to CF, which he seemed to struggle with slightly in the 300 or so innings he played there this year. And that would require moving Granderson to either RF or the bench, which seems a waste of his value especially given his contract. Adrian Beltre to DH is especially asinine given that if you look at his last five seasons pre-2010 he's put up On Base Plus Slugging numbers of .683, .784, .802, .792 and .716. He's had two elite offensive seasons in his career, both contract years. Beltre is only an option if the Yankees are looking to expedite the move of A-Rod to DH, which I doubt they are given his obscene salary. More likely scenario is them hoping they can string that out another year or two then try to swoop in on a Zimmerman or Longoria as they get closer to free agency. Or move Jeter to 3B at that point and snatch up Stephen Drew or Troy Tulowitzki as they approach free agency because if we know one thing we know that the baseball Gods hate us.

Also RIP Sparky Anderson

[Ananas]

So while you aren't allowed to trade for a draft pick in baseball, Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos proved yesterday that apparently you can buy one for about 500k. The Rockies apparently didn't want to pick up the option for 2011 on Miguel Olivo at 2.5 million (although 2.5 million for a catcher coming off a 3.2 WAR season is a veritable bargain, a mystifying decision); they also didn't want to pay the 500 thousand dollar buyout. Enter Anthopoulos, who agreed to trade a PTBNL or cash considerations to the Rocks for Olivo. The Jays, who have already exercised a 2011 option in Jose Molina's contract and intend to use him as a back-up to rookie JP Arencibia, don't really have room for Olivo so they declined the option and took the 500k hit. The reason? Miguel Olivo is a type-B free agent. If he declines arbitration (which given his 2010 season he probably will to seek a 2 year deal elsewhere) the Jays will get a supplemental draft pick between the first and second rounds. It's hard to put a dollar value on a top 50 draft pick in baseball, but I can't help but think it's comfortably more than half a million dollars. Should all of their type free agents decline arbitration and sign elsewhere, the Jays should end up with 6 picks inside the top 50 and as many as 9 inside the first two rounds of the draft next year. Coming off a draft year where they were able to sign their first 13 picks, 8 of which came in the top 100, the Jays will have the opportunity to make a major improvement on their farm system for 2 consecutive seasons.

[Damian WayLNKe]

So while you aren't allowed to trade for a draft pick in baseball, Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos proved yesterday that apparently you can buy one for about 500k. The Rockies apparently didn't want to pick up the option for 2011 on Miguel Olivo at 2.5 million (although 2.5 million for a catcher coming off a 3.2 WAR season is a veritable bargain, a mystifying decision); they also didn't want to pay the 500 thousand dollar buyout. Enter Anthopoulos, who agreed to trade a PTBNL or cash considerations to the Rocks for Olivo. The Jays, who have already exercised a 2011 option in Jose Molina's contract and intend to use him as a back-up to rookie JP Arencibia, don't really have room for Olivo so they declined the option and took the 500k hit. The reason? Miguel Olivo is a type-B free agent. If he declines arbitration (which given his 2010 season he probably will to seek a 2 year deal elsewhere) the Jays will get a supplemental draft pick between the first and second rounds. It's hard to put a dollar value on a top 50 draft pick in baseball, but I can't help but think it's comfortably more than half a million dollars. Should all of their type free agents decline arbitration and sign elsewhere, the Jays should end up with 6 picks inside the top 50 and as many as 9 inside the first two rounds of the draft next year. Coming off a draft year where they were able to sign their first 13 picks, 8 of which came in the top 100, the Jays will have the opportunity to make a major improvement on their farm system for 2 consecutive seasons.

Screw the Jays, it's the Orioles' time to get out of the cellar of the AL East