2025 Major League Baseball Thread

[fatediesel]

Originally Posted by toefer

I'm fine with the Cubs making moves, as long as they never move out of Wrigley. I know some players on the team have complained over the last couple of years about the stadium, but hopefully they don't try to pressure the new owners into planning a new stadium.

No way the Cubs get a new stadium anytime soon. There's no way they'd be able to get any money from the state or city, particularly if the city gets the 2016 Olympics. There's really no reason for the Cubs to get a new stadium anyways, they sell out most of their games. I'm sure they'd love to have more luxury boxes but it definitely wouldn't happen in this economy.
In all honestly though Wrigley is a crappy stadium, and it's a joke when you compare it to most MLB stadiums. It's got a nostalgia factor to it though and I wouldn't want them to move. But it's understandable why a player would visit new Yankee Stadium and be jealous of how nice it is. I wouldn't expect the Cubs to move anytime soon unless Wrigley's condition deteriorates to the point that it becomes unsafe.

[supersix4]

Originally Posted by fatediesel

No way the Cubs get a new stadium anytime soon. There's no way they'd be able to get any money from the state or city, particularly if the city gets the 2016 Olympics. There's really no reason for the Cubs to get a new stadium anyways, they sell out most of their games. I'm sure they'd love to have more luxury boxes but it definitely wouldn't happen in this economy.
In all honestly though Wrigley is a crappy stadium, and it's a joke when you compare it to most MLB stadiums. It's got a nostalgia factor to it though and I wouldn't want them to move. But it's understandable why a player would visit new Yankee Stadium and be jealous of how nice it is. I wouldn't expect the Cubs to move anytime soon unless Wrigley's condition deteriorates to the point that it becomes unsafe.

same the yankees threw the most historic stadium away for a couple cocktail bars and 2000+ low level seats ( now 1100 cuz they couldn't sell them) I'd take history over better lux boxes and seats any day.

[SDon1969]

At the ripe old age of 43, Tim Wakefield finally makes the All-Star Team....for the first time in his long carrer! Well done, Timmy, well done...

[hc666]

Originally Posted by toefer

I'm fine with the Cubs making moves, as long as they never move out of Wrigley. I know some players on the team have complained over the last couple of years about the stadium, but hopefully they don't try to pressure the new owners into planning a new one.

Rough weekend for the Jays, great weekend for the Yankees, who have now won 9 of their last 10, and are within 1 game of Boston now, thanks to Seattle.

The party is over... the 10 or so rookie starters we have used this year has finally caught up to us... ugh! Although JOhn MacDonald hitting a home run today was rather hilarious... good times!

If it wasn't for bad luck, Jays fans would have no luck at all

Why can't we have one f'ing healthy season....................................... Next year if we have Halladay, Romero, Marcum, McGowan and Richmond as our starting 5 and they stay heathy then maybe we can finally have a good season and get baseball back to where it should be in Toronto.

Not making the playoffs in 16 years isn't exactly good for any team in the league.

[supersix4]

Originally Posted by SDon1969

At the ripe old age of 43, Tim Wakefield finally makes the All-Star Team....for the first time in his long carrer! Well done, Timmy, well done...

yeah I'm happy for him I just wish markakis got some props he coulda been a backup. hamilton shoulda been 3rd and it should have been jones or hunter going for the starting position.

I also think lester got a bit of the shaft he is better then his numbers.

[toef]

Originally Posted by hc666

The party is over... the 10 or so rookie starters we have used this year has finally caught up to us... ugh! Although JOhn MacDonald hitting a home run today was rather hilarious... good times!

If it wasn't for bad luck, Jays fans would have no luck at all

Why can't we have one f'ing healthy season....................................... Next year if we have Halladay, Romero, Marcum, McGowan and Richmond as our starting 5 and they stay heathy then maybe we can finally have a good season and get baseball back to where it should be in Toronto.

Not making the playoffs in 16 years isn't exactly good for any team in the league.

Did you see Saturday's game? Even I felt a little bad for Halladay, when he gave up the game-tying HR to Damon. Neither Damon nor Halladay seemed to think it was a home run when it was hit, but the ball carried, and landed in the 2nd row or so. Kind of a cheap way to give up the lead, but oh well... that's the new Yankee Stadium, I guess.

So far the Yankees don't seem to have been hurt by any cheap home runs, but if they do get hurt by one day during the playoffs, it will be annoying.

[toef]

I don't know if other teams do this, but I've watched enough Yankees games to notice they do it...

The Yankees are commercializing the actual game, and it makes me .

Whenever the Yankees strike someone out, the stadium blasts a catchy little whistling jingle. Know where the whistling song comes from? Oh, it's the PC Richards jingle, used in all their commercials.

Whenever a Yankee steals a base, the stadium blasts a song from Modell's sporting goods store.

I hate ads in stadiums, but have accepted that they're part of the game now. What is annoying is when sounds that are essentially ads are played whenever certain things happen during a game.

What's next, licensing out the home run music? Bringing in a reliever? Everything?

The other reason it annoys me is the Yankees tried to take pride in keeping the Yankee Stadium name, and not selling the name like so many other teams (and since it's Yankee Stadium, they could've made far more in naming rights than any other team). But then they go and do things like this.

[hc666]

Originally Posted by toefer

Did you see Saturday's game? Even I felt a little bad for Halladay, when he gave up the game-tying HR to Damon. Neither Damon nor Halladay seemed to think it was a home run when it was hit, but the ball carried, and landed in the 2nd row or so. Kind of a cheap way to give up the lead, but oh well... that's the new Yankee Stadium, I guess.

So far the Yankees don't seem to have been hurt by any cheap home runs, but if they do get hurt by one day during the playoffs, it will be annoying.

Yep exactly, one of these times a cheapy is going to hurt.

And yeah saw the game on Saturday, Halladay didn't have his best stuff but still did well overall. Hopefully he starts the all-star game!

[fatediesel]

I'm anxious to watch the AL catcher catch Wakefield. There's a high likelihood of numerous pastballs since odds are the catcher will never have caught a knuckleball pitcher.

[SDon1969]

Originally Posted by fatediesel

I'm anxious to watch the AL catcher catch Wakefield. There's a high likelihood of numerous pastballs since odds are the catcher will never have caught a knuckleball pitcher.

Fantastic point, Wakefield always has his own personal catcher - most can't handle his wacky pitches.

[supersix4]

Originally Posted by SDon1969

Fantastic point, Wakefield always has his own personal catcher - most can't handle his wacky pitches.

lol maybe they'll let him pitch for like an inning

[fatediesel]

Originally Posted by SDon1969

Fantastic point, Wakefield always has his own personal catcher - most can't handle his wacky pitches.

I remember in 2006 when the Red Sox traded for Doug Mirabelli because their current catcher couldn't handle Wakefield's pitches, and the day they traded for him he flew a private jet cross-country and got a police escort to make the game on time against the Yankees, even dressing in the police car.

[SDon1969]

Originally Posted by fatediesel

I remember in 2006 when the Red Sox traded for Doug Mirabelli because their current catcher couldn't handle Wakefield's pitches, and the day they traded for him he flew a private jet cross-country and got a police escort to make the game on time against the Yankees, even dressing in the police car.

Hah, yes that is very memorable for me, as well. Bard just let too many pitches go by him, so they quickly signed and brought back Mirabelli like he was a rock star...

I think about 1 inning sounds about right - it could be just the thing to throw off the NL batters. Going from 90 mph pitches to 60 mph flutter-balls, back to hard heat again after Wake - it could work well!

[Mike53421]

So Halladay may test the trade market, if he went to the Cubs that would be fantastic.

1. Jays
2. Cubs

Those are my trade preferences, for the sake of Halladay's legacy you almost want to see him leave the consistently underperforming Blue Jays and win a World Series with a non-AL East team. Then again, that rules out the Cubs.

[fatediesel]

I don't think the Cubs have the assets to acquire Halladay, and the ownership situation might prevent them from taking on another larger salary. I have no idea what the Cubs could even offer for Halladay. They don't have a great farm system or any real hot prospects, and I can't imagine Toronto would take Zambrano.

I also read today there's a bigger offer for the Cubs out there from a private equity group. I'd prefer Ricketts get the team since he's a fan and won't be most worried about the bottom line, but more than anything I just wish this situation would get resolved.

[Mike53421]

Originally Posted by fatediesel

I don't think the Cubs have the assets to acquire Halladay, and the ownership situation might prevent them from taking on another larger salary. I have no idea what the Cubs could even offer for Halladay. They don't have a great farm system or any real hot prospects, and I can't imagine Toronto would take Zambrano.

I also read today there's a bigger offer for the Cubs out there from a private equity group. I'd prefer Ricketts get the team since he's a fan and won't be most worried about the bottom line, but more than anything I just wish this situation would get resolved.

Yeah right after I submitted that post (which was minutes after reading the ESPN article) I realized they'd have to trade their entire starting lineup just to balance out the trade.

[hc666]

Woohoo.......

YET ANOTHER rookie making his debut tonight for Toronto... Rzepczynski!

It's been quite the year in Toronto... I do like the direction though, I can see them being the next Rays in the next few years.

And yeah it's time to deal Halladay, I love him and would miss him but we need to get alot of something for him before it's too late.

[supersix4]

I dunno every espn update today they say that cito is open to listen to all and every trade for doc.

I still think the only team that has enough depth to please them is the sox. but I'd really like to see them dump lowell and maybe a prospect to the nats for nick johnson then keep kevin at 3rd and have nick at first.

[toef]

I missed the Yankees/Jays finale yesterday, and didn't even watch the replays of it until today (I checked the box score last night, and that was it).

Anyhow, looks like the Jays stole the game, to avoid the sweep:

Originally Posted by Newsday

After several calls made by the umpiring crew came under scrutiny during Monday's Yankees-Blue Jays game, crew chief John Hirschbeck said he plans to review some plays with his umpires and discuss how certain calls were made and handled.

First on his agenda likely will be a call made by Marty Foster when Derek Jeter attempted to steal third in the first inning. Jeter clearly eluded Scott Rolen's tag but was called out. After the game, Jeter said Foster told him that the ball beat him and "he doesn't have to tag you" to get the out call.

Which of course was news to Jeter, who said, "I was unaware of the rules change.''

Hirschbeck said he will speak with Foster - who, along with Wally Bell, declined to comment and deferred all questions to their crew chief - to see if Jeter's assertions are accurate.

"I have not had a chance to talk to Marty about it or what was specifically said, but I will," Hirschbeck said. "We'll talk about the situation, what exactly happened, how he handled it and what he said, because it's important. Getting a play right is one thing, but how you handle it and things you say are equally as important. It used to be if the ball beats you, you're out. It's really not like that anymore. You have to make a good tag."

In other words, in accordance with the rules of baseball.

After the play, the almost always unflappable Jeter appeared incredulous and began to approach Foster before being intercepted by third-base coach Rob Thomson. Because of Jeter's reputation and characteristically stoic nature, Hirschbeck was surprised at his reaction.

"In my 27 years in the big leagues, [Jeter] might be the classiest person I've ever been around in uniform," Hirschbeck said. "I do think, 'Wow, that's unusual' and I did at the time."

If Jeter's assertions about his dialogue with Foster are true, Hirschbeck essentially sided with Jeter and said he understands his reaction. "Which would make his actions seem appropriate if that's what he was told," Hirschbeck said. "I would think that would aggravate him."

After Jeter confronted Foster, manager Joe Girardi argued the call and was ejected. Hirschbeck told Newsday that Girardi was booted because he brought up a bad call at the plate by Foster in Sunday's game. On that play, Foster called Mark Teixeira out even though catcher Raul Chavez tagged him with the glove while holding the ball in his bare hand.

The umpiring misfortunes did not end there, however.

Jeter made an acrobatic throw to second on Vernon Wells' grounder in the hole in the third inning, but Aaron Hill was ruled safe, setting the stage for Alex Rios' three-run homer. Eric Hinske was called out at second in the seventh although Jays shortstop Marco Scutaro caught an errant throw well off the bag. In each case, replays clearly showed the calls were incorrect.

"We try to get everything right. Sometimes you just miss plays and you have to go in and look at the replays," Hirschbeck said. "You're human and you miss it."

[hc666]

Originally Posted by toefer

I missed the Yankees/Jays finale yesterday, and didn't even watch the replays of it until today (I checked the box score last night, and that was it).

Anyhow, looks like the Jays stole the game, to avoid the sweep:

Hey a win is a win... every game has questionable calls... esp behind the plate as far as balls and strikes that drastically alter the outcome every single evening.

I saw the game, Jeter was called out because of the positioning of the umpire at third, the ball beat Jeter there but he did a good dive but couldn't be seen by the umpire... if the ball gets their first and you can't see his hands, well he is out... happens all the time to every single team.

Just like in 1992 World Series where the Jays turned a triple play, which I believe would have been the first in WS history but because of the position of the umpire, the last out was not called... Gruber the Jays thirdbaseman was livid, but it hardly mattered... can't call what you can't see.