2025 Major League Baseball Thread

[sfmarine]

Originally Posted by toefer

Yankees fan to the rescue.


Teixeira is notorious for having a slow start, so if his stats don't improve in another few weeks, then maybe its time to worry, but right now, not really.

Teix- is doing really bad...He's still a great defensive player and we need that @ first. He'll come around. At least he made contact last night instead of popping it up like he's been doing.

Originally Posted by toefer

The seats at Yankee Stadium are empty, yes, but if you look at the attendance every night, they're doing quite well. In fact, they're leading the league in attendance... go figure. Considering the average ticket price at YS is ~$75 and the average ticket price for the rest of MLB is ~$25, the fact that they still lead in attendance is pretty impressive.

So why the empty seats? Because most seats were gobbled up by ticket brokers, who thought they'd make a killing re-selling the tickets online (Stubhub, eBay, wherever). The problem is nobody wants to pay $600 for a $100 ticket, so the seats look empty. The Yankees already got their money from selling the season tickets to the brokers.

That is correct. Last night's game was so empty. I've never seen a Red Sox/Yankees game that empty but what do you expect for a 2 hour rain delay? The ticket prices are insane as well as the food and drinks. This happens everywhere you go. 2 people going to the movie theatre on a Friday night usually costs $40. It's crap but we put up with it. Stub Hub really kills the seating. People jack up the prices and it's really a shame. I'll be lucky if I get to 3 games this year. I still need to make it out to the new stadium. I need to familiarize myself with it as well because I may end up getting lost lol.

Originally Posted by toefer

The person who said the Yankees don't try to build up their own talent anymore has no idea what they're talking about. Sure, they're notorious for gobbling up big name free agents, but they've become very protective of their prospects in the last few years. The core of the team through the WS years, Jeter/Posada/Bernie/Rivera were all home-grown. Today add in Melky and Cano, Joba (who should be trained as Rivera's successor, not a starter), Hughes, Pena (who will probably be groomed to replace Jeter in the next couple of seasons), and others.

I'm impressed with Pena. I really am. I'm not sure what they're going to do with him. They say he's an even better shortstop. Open slot after Jeter starts taking it easy in 4-5 years? Maybe...but once A-rod is back, he won't be getting any playing time. He's better off going to AAA(Scranton) and playing every day. Melky is the man. Some of the fielding he's done is just.. especially when he robbed Manny of that home run. Gardner is slumping but is a better athlete. It's a tough call about who will get knocked. Keep in mind that Melky almost got traded in the off-season.

Joba...was up there with Papelbon as far as (new)closers go. He was so impressive during his rookie season. It was amazing to watch. Then that whole "bug thing" came up in which Torre still agrees was the worst mistake of his life(not delaying the game...as mentioned in his book) Joba should have stayed a set-up man for Rivera. Remember the Wetteland days? Rivera set up for Jon and we won the series for the first time in a long time. Joba was being groomed for that position and Hank Steinbrenner decided to make up his own mind. Stupid if you ask me.

[hc666]

Originally Posted by toefer

Yes, Burnette, whoever that guy is, probably sucks. In the AL, an ERA under a 4.00 means you're one of the top 20 pitchers in the league (ERA-wise). It's not that Burnett's a bad pitcher, he just played for a team that couldn't score runs.

The Blue Jays have only scored more than 800 runs once in the last 8 or 9 seasons. By comparison, the Yankees have only scored less than 800 runs once in that same time. The Yankees nearly scored 1,000 runs 2 years ago... which is a feat that's only been seen once in the last 60 years.

Toronto's now on pace for 960 runs this year, and based on their past history, I'm really supposed to believe that's going to hold up? I don't think so.



That's great, except that a season is from April-October, not July-May. And I wouldn't say the Jays ruled the AL East. They barely won 90 games. That's not exactly dominating the competition.

Using your years:

85: Blue Jays won the East by 2 games over the Yankees
86: Blue Jays finished in 4th place
87: Blue Jays finished in 2nd place
88: Blue Jays finished in 4th place (2 games ahead of the 5th place Yanks)
89: Blue Jays won the East by 2 games over the Orioles
90: Blue Jays finished in 2nd place
91: Blue Jays won the East by 7 games, the first time you can consider using the word ruled
92: Blue Jays won the East by 4 games
93: Blue Jays won the East by 7

So to revise the statement, I think it's only fair to say the Blue Jays ruled the East from 91-93, and I'm not sure how much you really want to call that ruled.

And I noticed you said "ruled the AL EAST" because you wanted to leave out what happened to the Blue Jays once they hit the post-season. With the exception of 92 and 93, they were lucky to win 1 game in the playoffs.

From 85-93 the Blue Jays won 825 games, and the Yankees (in what is historically probably their crappiest time in franchise history) won 737 games. That's an average of 91 per year for the Jays, 81 for the Yankees. 10 games is dominating? Maybe.

From 95-2004 the Yankees won 966 games, and the Jays won 772. If you're keeping score, that means 96 per year for the Yanks, and 77 for the Blue Jays. +19, in an average year, is a lot more dominating.

Ha! Thanks for the detail, I'm loving it.

Beyond the strike outs, AJ sucks. We are better without him.

You are saying that the Jays have not improved since Cito Gaston took over last July and don't see it lasting when it has lasted several months, if you combine this season with last... that is part of my assumption that they will have a great year. We can argue more and more on it but I guess we will just have to wait and see what happens. For a team that is littered with rookie pitchers they are doing pretty damn good. The line up is stacked with great young players. Aaron Hill, Lind and Snider are ones to really look for the next few years. Amazing players.

1985 blew a 3-1 games lead against the Royals... 1989, embarrassed by Ricky Henderson who probably stole 20 bases in that series haha.

Ok maybe I was a bit silly using the word ruled(i am a passionate baseball fan), I should have stated 5 post season appearances between 1985 to 1993 which is pretty darn good. This is pre-wild card era as well so we cant even compare it to how the playoffs work these days.

Making the post season 5 times out of 9 years back then was quite the accomplishment.

GO JAYS!

[toef]

Originally Posted by sfmarine

Teix- is doing really bad...He's still a great defensive player and we need that @ first. He'll come around. At least he made contact last night instead of popping it up like he's been doing.

True. It's still early enough in the season that a single hit will bump his BA up by 10 points, whereas an out only drops it by about 3 points. One good week is all it'd take to go from .198 to to over .250. Another good week or so after that, and he's closing in on .300.

That is correct. Last night's game was so empty. I've never seen a Red Sox/Yankees game that empty but what do you expect for a 2 hour rain delay? The ticket prices are insane as well as the food and drinks. This happens everywhere you go. 2 people going to the movie theatre on a Friday night usually costs $40. It's crap but we put up with it. Stub Hub really kills the seating. People jack up the prices and it's really a shame. I'll be lucky if I get to 3 games this year. I still need to make it out to the new stadium. I need to familiarize myself with it as well because I may end up getting lost lol.

I just went on Friday night (against the Angels). Probably the most exciting game I've been to. If you remember, they were down 9-4 going into the 8th, and ended up winning 10-9. I got tickets for the 4th row in left field (in the field level seats, not the bleachers), for less than half their face value. Despite being pretty empty, the place definitely can get pretty loud, but I don't think it will ever be as loud as the old Yankee Stadium. I miss the huge solid upper-deck in the old place, compared to the crappy split level upper-deck in the new stadium (not to mention the upper-deck is also about 30 feet further back than the old stadium). When you go, I'd suggest getting there as early as you can, so you can try to take in the sites (like the Great Hall, the museum, monument park, etc).

I'm impressed with Pena. I really am. I'm not sure what they're going to do with him. They say he's an even better shortstop. Open slot after Jeter starts taking it easy in 4-5 years? Maybe...but once A-rod is back, he won't be getting any playing time. He's better off going to AAA(Scranton) and playing every day. Melky is the man. Some of the fielding he's done is just.. especially when he robbed Manny of that home run. Gardner is slumping but is a better athlete. It's a tough call about who will get knocked. Keep in mind that Melky almost got traded in the off-season.

I agree that it's probably best for Pena to go back to AAA when A-Rod gets back. He'd be a nice player to have on the bench, but I think it'd hurt him to sit around and not play very much. Better to play every day in AAA, and keep developing. Notice that since Pena took over for Ransom, Jeter's been able to play a little more to his left, since Pena's range at 3B is pretty good.

Jeter's range at short is getting crappier every year, and I assume a move to the outfield is going to be in his future, assuming he wants to keep playing for another 4-5 years. Ripken eventually moved to third, but Jeter doesn't have the arm for it. Probably best to throw him in left-field. Even if he doesn't have much of an outfield arm, neither does Damon, and that doesn't stop him from playing LF.

Joba...was up there with Papelbon as far as (new)closers go. He was so impressive during his rookie season. It was amazing to watch. Then that whole "bug thing" came up in which Torre still agrees was the worst mistake of his life(not delaying the game...as mentioned in his book) Joba should have stayed a set-up man for Rivera. Remember the Wetteland days? Rivera set up for Jon and we won the series for the first time in a long time. Joba was being groomed for that position and Hank Steinbrenner decided to make up his own mind. Stupid if you ask me.

I think Joba should've definitely been the next Rivera. As you mentioned, Rivera was used as Wetteland's set-up man for the 96 season, and then inherited the closing role when Wetteland left after the WS.

The other thing they have in common is they are pretty craptacular as starters (although Joba did well tonight, if you ignore the first inning... 12 K's... and his last 8 outs were all K's). If you remember, Rivera came up in '95 as a starting pitcher, and wasn't very good, so he spent a good part of the year in AAA. Then Showalter used him as a relief pitcher in the playoffs that year, and he did well (despite the Yankees losing), so he's stayed in the bullpen ever since.

I miss the late 90's Yankees, when they had Stanton and Nelson in the bullpen to pitch the 7th and 8th. With Rivera closing out the 9th, the Yankees essentially cut the game down to 6 innings, which is a big part of why they won 114 games that season (or 125 if you add in the post-season).

The Red Sox seem to use that same strategy now. Since they are confident their bullpen will beat their opponent's bullpen, it's just a matter of getting an early lead, and then getting their opponent's starting pitcher out of the game.

[jadedeath]

Originally Posted by toefer

Burnett may not be the greatest pitcher in the league, but it sounds like a bit of bitterness that he left the Blue Jays is the reason why people aren't giving him enough credit for how good he actually is. If he was still a Blue Jay, Blue Jay fans would think he was one of the top 5 pitchers in the league.

The only pitcher that the Jays have had in the last couple of years that have been top 5 is Doc.

Burnett has never been that good IMO, he just ramped it up when there was the chance of getting traded or him getting a big contract.

Logan

[toef]

Originally Posted by jadedeath

The only pitcher that the Jays have had in the last couple of years that have been top 5 is Doc.

Burnett has never been that good IMO, he just ramped it up when there was the chance of getting traded or him getting a big contract.

Logan

Well surely you can't just become good temporarily, right? So if he ramped it up during a contract year, then the talent was there to begin with, he just didn't bother showing it, right?

But yes, I'd say Halladay is better. I remember seeing him all the time in AAA on the [Sky]Chiefs. Probably the best player to come out of the farm system since Delgado. Other players I remember from years of going to games were Shannon Stewart, Chris Carpenter, Vernon Wells, and Alex Rios.

I used to go to the Chiefs games all the time, and in the last few years that I went (2005-2008 or so), I don't remember many big prospects. The best players on the team seemed like career minor-leaguers (as in, over 30 years old). It seems like the last decent player to come through AAA was Alex Rios, and that was 5 or 6 years ago now. Aaron Hill is the only name on the Jays roster that rings a bell from the 2005-2008 teams that I remember.

There was this one guy, John-Ford Griffin, who I guess was a big prospect, but he acted like the biggest douche-bag on the team. I swear the guy thought he was the next Ken Griffey, or some other big superstar, but as far as I know, he's never spent more than a week or so in the majors.

[hc666]

Another great come from behind win for the Blue Jays yesterday!

Off to see the Angels now... I always hate when they go there through the week, the friggin games aren't on until 11PM'ish my time... Atlantic Standard!

PS how about them Royals... big come back last night as well! Watch out for them this year! They appear to be the real deal as well with Greinke and Co.

[SDon1969]

When Joba drilled Jason Bay in the back last night, I wanted to reach into the TV and ring his neck! Sox couldn't mess around with paybacks, the game was too close. At least they got the W.

[hc666]

Originally Posted by SDon1969

When Joba drilled Jason Bay in the back last night, I wanted to reach into the TV and ring his neck! Sox couldn't mess around with paybacks, the game was too close. At least they got the W.

Jason Bay... good ole Canadian boy!

I'll admit, i'm a closet fan haha.

[SDon1969]

Originally Posted by hc666

Jason Bay... good ole Canadian boy!

I'll admit, i'm a closet fan haha.

He's great, his offense basically gave the Sox the sweep of the mini 2-game Yanks series. Of course Lester & Beckett helped too...

[toef]

Originally Posted by SDon1969

When Joba drilled Jason Bay in the back last night, I wanted to reach into the TV and ring his neck! Sox couldn't mess around with paybacks, the game was too close. At least they got the W.

It slipped.

It's weird how easily the last two games could've been completely different.

If Joba didn't have that bad first inning, the Yankees probably would've won, and his 12K game would've been considered his best game yet, and cooled down a lot of the "he needs to go back to the bullpen talk" (although it still might).

Two days ago when Teix was up with the tying runs on base, if he managed to hit his 3rd home-run of the game (which would've been a walk-off win, obviously) the game would've become an instant Yankees Classic, and would be re-aired on the YES network several times a year forever. But instead he struck out, and they lost.

[Bigdog]

Originally Posted by toefer

It slipped.

It's weird how easily the last two games could've been completely different.

If Joba didn't have that bad first inning, the Yankees probably would've won, and his 12K game would've been considered his best game yet, and cooled down a lot of the "he needs to go back to the bullpen talk" (although it still might).

Two days ago when Teix was up with the tying runs on base, if he managed to hit his 3rd home-run of the game (which would've been a walk-off win, obviously) the game would've become an instant Yankees Classic, and would be re-aired on the YES network several times a year forever. But instead he struck out, and they lost.

Sorry, it slipped about as much as the one Beckett just got 5 games for! That's fine because the Yankee batters already know it's coming right back at them next time!

[hc666]

Originally Posted by toefer

It slipped.

It's weird how easily the last two games could've been completely different.

If Joba didn't have that bad first inning, the Yankees probably would've won, and his 12K game would've been considered his best game yet, and cooled down a lot of the "he needs to go back to the bullpen talk" (although it still might).

Two days ago when Teix was up with the tying runs on base, if he managed to hit his 3rd home-run of the game (which would've been a walk-off win, obviously) the game would've become an instant Yankees Classic, and would be re-aired on the YES network several times a year forever. But instead he struck out, and they lost.

Yeah but the mind set is different when you are leading. I don't think he would have struck out 9 looking for example if the Sox were losing. Not to take anything away from Joba, but you can't say things would be different based on what already happened.

Bottom line is they lost. You could turn any situation around by saying 'WHAT IF'. What if Jason Bay hit 3 home runs, would be an instant Red Sox classic for example. See how that works :P haha.

Unless the Yankees are spending millions on a time machine, they just have to pitch and play better from the get-go.

[hc666]

Jays win... again!

[Bigdog]

Well Dodger fans guess who just got bumped for 50 games for using steroids.

[fatediesel]

Originally Posted by Bigdog

Well Dodger fans guess who just got bumped for 50 games for using steroids.

If it is true that Manny got suspended we're going to forget all about Favre and A Rod. (Si.com reporting Manny suspended, no story yet)

Edit: Here's the LA Times story: http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-...,6324894.story

[Jellybeans]

Originally Posted by Bigdog

Well Dodger fans guess who just got bumped for 50 games for using steroids.

Manny Ramirez


Source : http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4148907

[Go Blue]

Who do you guys like to win today in the Atlanta @ Florida game?

[SDon1969]

Originally Posted by Dark Elf

Manny Ramirez


Source : http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4148907

NO.....FREAKING......WAY!!!

LOL, I hadn't heard this yet....wow.

I would say I lost a little respect for him, but....too late!

[hc666]

Originally Posted by Dark Elf

Manny Ramirez


Source : http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4148907

Wow, just WOW!

That is crazy, based on how he looked I never would have thought that,.. seems alittle lazy lol

He's saying it was because of a doc's presecription... just what they all I say I know.

Interesting stuff... so much for the fast start for the Dodgers. This will hurt them.

[Bizdady]

Manny what are u doing!!! Oh man! Im a huge Dodger fan and this is just stupid on his part. Guess we'll be seeing alot more Pierre now