2011 MLB Season

[sahyder1]

Mike Jacobs suspended 50 games for HGH. Becomes first guy to be suspended for HGH.

[Mr. X]

The Cubs have fired Hendry!

[sahyder1]

Angels sign Jered Weaver to a 5 year extension worth $85 million. Great deal for the Angels. Weaver wasn't going to be a FA until the end of next season but as an Angels fan it is great to see this be dealt with already. Really strange in some ways considering he's a Boras client but I guess being a local kid helped.

Loved this quote from Weaver.

"If $85 (million) is not enough to take care of my family and other generations of families then I'm pretty stupid, but how much money do you really need in life? I've never played this game for the money. I played it for the love and the competitive part of it. It just so happens that baseball's going to be taking care of me for the rest of my life."

Edited August 25, 2011 by sahyder1

[sahyder1]

Strasburg had another solid rehab start. I think him making a start or two this year would be somewhat remarkable. If I was a Nationals fan my thinking might be different but I actually want to see him up in the majors before the end of the season.

[gunnar hendershow]

News is just breaking, but former Cy Young award winner and Oriole legend Mike Flanagan was found dead on his property this evening. Sad news.

[sahyder1]

The Angels who were written off by a lot of people last week when they were on the verge of being 8 back are now just 2.5 games back with a weekend series against the Rangers coming up. The Angels will most likely be bringing back Santana and Weaver back on 3 days rest so along with Haren the Big 3 will all pitch in that series. The Weaver game will be the Sunday Night Baseball game. Weaver pitched 7 shutout innings to lower his ERA to 2.03. Fifteen times this season he's allowed a run or less while pitching 7 or more innings.

[Ananas]

Deadspin reporting that sources have confirmed that "took his own life "despondent over what he considered a false perception from a community he loved of his role in the team's prolonged failure." That has to be one of the saddest things I've ever read. I think maybe sometimes we forget just how high pressured a GM's job is. Then of course we deride them relentlessly when they fail. It's not like a normal job where if you aren't good, you just get fired and nobody cares. You are the architect, and therefore are held primarily responsible, for a team with literally millions of fans. If you fail, you've failed in the eyes of those millions. Perhaps we would do well to remember that these people are humans, warts and all.

[EddieG]

Yankees are up 22-9 in a game where they've become the first team to hit 3 grand slams in one game. (Cano, Granderson and Martin)

[Meacon Keaton]

We were losing 7-1 at one point too.

[9 to 5]

It would have been 8 grand slams if it wasn;t for that damn Jeter!

[naiwf]

Typical Yankees, beating up on a bad team and padding their stats in a meaningless rout I'm surprised A-Rod wasn't more involved since that's his specialty.

[Guest JukeboxHero]

Although I hated how Jim Thome left Cleveland, it'll be kinda cool to see him in a Cleveland Indians uniform again. Not like it'll make a damn difference anyways.

[Meacon Keaton]

After the way LeBron left, you should be grateful to everyone else who left...

Nevermind.

[Lint]

I was so hoping the Phillies would place a claim on Thome

[Ron]

I was so hoping the Phillies would place a claim on Thome

It wouldn't have made a difference, unfortunately. Since Cleveland claimed him he was either gonna become an Indian or stay a Twin. The only way the Phillies would have gotten him is if Minnesota released Thome outright and he signed a contract.

[naiwf]

Just looking to see what people think here. Given that there isn't a clear cut AL MVP at this point, do you think Justin Verlander should win if he doesn't tank in his last few starts? I'm not asking whether you feel that pitchers are "players" or not, but specifically whether Verlander should win it this year.

I don't see the writers giving the award to Joey Bats because his team probably ends up at .500 or slightly worse and were never in the postseason mix. Then you have the glut of Sox/Yankees as the other top position players. Granderson is probably in the lead in the group, but you already have 2 other Yankees with at least 100 RBI, Teixeira is also putting up monster power numbers and the Yankees offense isn't necessarily living or dying because one of those two, or Cano, is hot or cold. Then you have the Gonzalez/Ellsbury/Pedroia situation which just seems likely to spread the votes out. The Tigers on the other hand are only a game over .500 when anyone other than Verlander starts and +14 when he takes the mound. Generally speaking I don't like the idea of a pitcher as an MVP, but this year it's hard to argue that anyone else is really more deserving.

[Panni]

I'm also not a fan of a pitcher winning the MVP award. It's not like there is no hitter having a good year in the American League. Both Jose Bautista and Curtis Granderson have made really strong cases for the award. So i say give Verlander the CY Young and leave the MVP for batters.

[Pizza]

Verlander is taking a team to the playoffs that wouldn't have gone without him. I can't say that about any other player. Yankees still win 90-100 without Granderson. Sox still win 90-100 without Gonzalez/Ellsbury/Pedroia. Jays are a mediocre team with Bautista and would be mediocre without him. It has to be Verlander.

[Meacon Keaton]

Verlander is taking a team to the playoffs that wouldn't have gone without him. I can't say that about any other player. Yankees still win 90-100 without Granderson. Sox still win 90-100 without Gonzalez/Ellsbury/Pedroia. Jays are a mediocre team with Bautista and would be mediocre without him. It has to be Verlander.

Agreed. It's most valuable player, and no player, pitcher or otherwise, is more valuable to their team this year thanVerlander.

[sahyder1]

Verlander is taking a team to the playoffs that wouldn't have gone without him. I can't say that about any other player. Yankees still win 90-100 without Granderson. Sox still win 90-100 without Gonzalez/Ellsbury/Pedroia. Jays are a mediocre team with Bautista and would be mediocre without him. It has to be Verlander.

Agreed. It's most valuable player, and no player, pitcher or otherwise, is more valuable to their team this year thanVerlander.

It is unfortunate that most voters have converted the MVP award into best hitter award. Verlander deserves the MVP.