Off Season: 2008-2009 MLB Transition
- Thread starter Prosthetic
- 92 comments
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- 26,897
- Houston, Texas, USA
- JMarine25
Even Michael Wilbon on PTI today respected how the Yankees do what they can to win games. They'll spend millions to get players in an effort to make them winners. It's probably to say that the Yankees are the college basketball equivalent of the Duke Blue Devils. I mean that in the sense of it being okay to dislike them, because they are so good. The thing that sticks to me is that I hear so much about how Yankees fans are or how the New York City media is when NYC teams aren't doing very well. You get jaded to this stuff after a while, but you can't dislike or underappreciate the effort the Yankees put in to make their team better by leaps and bounds. Same with the Red Sox. They are upper-tier teams for a reason. But if anything, Tampa Bay shown they can win with a low payroll.
Best of luck to the rivaling Yankees and Red Sox as well as other AL teams. That even includes my home state's AL representatives, the Texas Rangers.
Best of luck to the rivaling Yankees and Red Sox as well as other AL teams. That even includes my home state's AL representatives, the Texas Rangers.
- 3,542
- Marin County, C
I don't HATE the Yankees... it's mostly the media around them that makes them sound like they really are the best team. If they were they wouldn't be 8 games behind Tampa. Money does NOT make a good team. The Giants are also one of the richest teams in baseball but they were playing under .500 until August then we had one of the best records from August through September! Thanks to unknown rookies. Young players will get you to the playoffs then a couple vets that know what they are doing helps the rooks get through.
Thats why I feel really good about the next year Giants because our lineup is basically the lineup in August and September plus a much better hitting shortstop (Renteria) and better relief pitching (Affeldt and Howry.)
I'm not really bothered by the choice of signing Mark... I'm actually quite happy because now Sabean is speaking of picking up Swisher! I'm not really that crazy about it because he have Sandoval and Ishikawa that can play it fantastically and we also seem to want Wigginton since the Astros signed Boone.
Personally I think Sandoval is a better hitter then Wiggy but I would be cool to have him around for insurance.
We also seem to be the front runners for signing the Big Unit because Noah Lowry still has iffy health so we will need a 5th starting pitcher.
Next years lineup could look like this...
LF: Lewis, Roberts
CF: Rowand
RF: Winn, Schierholtz
3B: Sandoval, Wiggy
SS: Renteria
2B: Frandsen, Burriss, Velez
1B: Ishikawa, Sandoval, Swisher or Nady (who is better then Swisher hitting wise)
C: Molina, Sandoval, Holm
SP:
1: Lincecum
2: Cain
3: Zito
4: Sanchez
5: Johnson
RP:
Hinshaw
Matos
Romo
Sadler
Taschner
Yabu
Howry
Valdez
Affeldt
CP:
Wilson
Then in the next few years I can name like 10 more upcoming stars that will make a huge impact. Posey, Bumgarner, Villalona, Alderson, Noonan, Gillaspie etc... tons more which all have chances to be multiple time all-stars or can be traded off for another piece we might need more...
I think that having a really SOLID farm system is ten times more important then spending tons of cash on vets that will run out of there prime.
Thats why I feel really good about the next year Giants because our lineup is basically the lineup in August and September plus a much better hitting shortstop (Renteria) and better relief pitching (Affeldt and Howry.)
I'm not really bothered by the choice of signing Mark... I'm actually quite happy because now Sabean is speaking of picking up Swisher! I'm not really that crazy about it because he have Sandoval and Ishikawa that can play it fantastically and we also seem to want Wigginton since the Astros signed Boone.
Personally I think Sandoval is a better hitter then Wiggy but I would be cool to have him around for insurance.
We also seem to be the front runners for signing the Big Unit because Noah Lowry still has iffy health so we will need a 5th starting pitcher.
Next years lineup could look like this...
LF: Lewis, Roberts
CF: Rowand
RF: Winn, Schierholtz
3B: Sandoval, Wiggy
SS: Renteria
2B: Frandsen, Burriss, Velez
1B: Ishikawa, Sandoval, Swisher or Nady (who is better then Swisher hitting wise)
C: Molina, Sandoval, Holm
SP:
1: Lincecum
2: Cain
3: Zito
4: Sanchez
5: Johnson
RP:
Hinshaw
Matos
Romo
Sadler
Taschner
Yabu
Howry
Valdez
Affeldt
CP:
Wilson
Then in the next few years I can name like 10 more upcoming stars that will make a huge impact. Posey, Bumgarner, Villalona, Alderson, Noonan, Gillaspie etc... tons more which all have chances to be multiple time all-stars or can be traded off for another piece we might need more...
I think that having a really SOLID farm system is ten times more important then spending tons of cash on vets that will run out of there prime.
- 3,542
- Marin County, C
It's official... the Giants sign the Big Unit to a 1 year 8 million with 2.5 million in incentives deal. So now 3 of the 5 of the Giants pitchers are past cy young winners. I have no doubt that Cain and Sanchez both have a chance to win it in the future. So I'm certainly thrilled to have one of the all time best pitchers in our young line up! I've always had mad respect as a division rival he was one pitcher you didn't want to play against.
- 26,897
- Houston, Texas, USA
- JMarine25
So a one-time Astro goes to San Francisco? All I can say is that all the other teams playing the Giants will need to think long and hard to combat San Francisco's pitching lineup. I'm still certain Randy Johnson will still deliver mad heat to the strike zone on each pitch of his. San Francisco's looking more like a dream pitching team. Now if only there were more solid hitting talent to match this. By then, I'd say the Giants could make the playoffs for the 2009 season.
- 3,542
- Marin County, C
I was looking at the Snakes lineup and you guys have a pretty solid infield, the one thing I remember you guys having problems with much like the Giants is your relief pitching. I remember many times going into the late innings and one of your relievers would blow the game. Even though your starting pitching staff which was amazing would pitching almost perfectly.
- 26,897
- Houston, Texas, USA
- JMarine25
I'd like to see a pitching duel between Brandon Webb and Randy Johnson in a Diamondbacks/Giants match. I love AT&T Park, but I'd even be interested seeing this duel played out at Chase Field as well. In fact, these are two of the loveliest baseball fields in Major League Baseball. I actually think that Arizona/San Francisco will probably be the two teams to watch in the NL West unless San Diego or (heaven forbid) the Dodgers have something to say about that. Or if Colorado wants to make some noise and break up this party.
- 2,886
Yeah, the D-Backs' bullpen was pretty shaky this season, partly because of new guys coming in from different teams and partly because of Melvin's constant shuffling of the relief order.
IMO, next year the NL West will be much like this year, the team that can win 84 will win the pennant, I don't think that Colorado or San Diego will be even close, both teams are going through some restructuring after letting quite a few (in SD's case at least) players go.
- 3,542
- Marin County, C
San Diego has a better shot then Colorado, SD is basically the same team as last year as they still have Gonzalez, Giles and Peavy but other then that they are kind of weak. Colorado lost Taveras, Holliday and most likely won't have Fuentes so they will most likely be last in the weak division. As for the Dodgers, without Kent and ManRam in the middle of their lineup they are pretty weak. Loney, Kemp, Blake and the injury prone Furcal aren't enough to carry the team. And their starting lineup is nothing compared to the Snakes and SF.
This is my predictions (even though vary early) for 2009.
NL West: AZ or SF
NL Cent: Cubs or Hou
NL East: NYM
WildCard: BrewCrew or Phill's
AL West: LAA (Possibly Oak with the addition of Holliday)
AL Cent: Twins
AL East: NYY or TB (I'm pulling for TB as I think of them as my other Giants as the Giants almost move to TB in 1993)
WildCard: Boston or WhiteSox
These are pretty wild predictions... but if the Giants do get a hitter (Swisher, Dunn or Burrell?) we have a shot.
This is my predictions (even though vary early) for 2009.
NL West: AZ or SF
NL Cent: Cubs or Hou
NL East: NYM
WildCard: BrewCrew or Phill's
AL West: LAA (Possibly Oak with the addition of Holliday)
AL Cent: Twins
AL East: NYY or TB (I'm pulling for TB as I think of them as my other Giants as the Giants almost move to TB in 1993)
WildCard: Boston or WhiteSox
These are pretty wild predictions... but if the Giants do get a hitter (Swisher, Dunn or Burrell?) we have a shot.
- 3,542
- Marin County, C
Apparently the Giants are in the ManRam race... Which I find funny as we currently have 5 outfielders (Roberts, Winn, Rowand, Schierholtz, Lewis) And we also have spent a bunch of money and we have some huge contracts on the line. Not only that but players like Sandoval and Lincecum are going to be getting huge raises. If anything this is just a huge rumor that money hungry Scott Boras (Manny's Agent) trying to get the Dodgers to give him a bigger contract. If, (and thats a big if) we do land Manny it would certainly fix our lineup tremendously by relieving Molina of the clean-up spot and putting some support behind Winn, Sandoval and Renteria will most likely be our starting 3 hitters. Who knows whats going on...
Sources:
http://www.rotoworld.com/content/playernews.aspx?sport=MLB
http://www.rotoworld.com/content/playerpages/player_main.aspx?sport=MLB&id=1884
In other news, the Dodgers are looking at getting rid of the Andruw Jones contract to the Mets.
Fuentes goes to the Angels replacing K-Rod with a 2 year 17.5 million dollar deal. Which weakens the Rockies late game pitching tremendously.
The D-Backs re-sign Chris Snyder.
And the MLB tv station is now live... I wish I had it.
Sources:
http://www.rotoworld.com/content/playernews.aspx?sport=MLB
http://www.rotoworld.com/content/playerpages/player_main.aspx?sport=MLB&id=1884
In other news, the Dodgers are looking at getting rid of the Andruw Jones contract to the Mets.
Fuentes goes to the Angels replacing K-Rod with a 2 year 17.5 million dollar deal. Which weakens the Rockies late game pitching tremendously.
The D-Backs re-sign Chris Snyder.
And the MLB tv station is now live... I wish I had it.
- 2,886
Manny will most likely have to accept the Dodgers 2-year/$45M deal if he wants to play for a contending team next year, I think this talk with him going to the Giants is a load of hogwash that Boras is putting out there and expecting us to believe it.
Everybody was criticizing him when he said that Mark Teixeira was going to sign a deal with the Nationals if he didn't get a good enough offer from the Angels, but he ended up turning down that deal, a deal from the Nats, one from the Red Sox and signed with the Yankees.
I'll believe this once I see Manny wearing Giants colors.
Everybody was criticizing him when he said that Mark Teixeira was going to sign a deal with the Nationals if he didn't get a good enough offer from the Angels, but he ended up turning down that deal, a deal from the Nats, one from the Red Sox and signed with the Yankees.
I'll believe this once I see Manny wearing Giants colors.
- 3,542
- Marin County, C
Rumor no more, the other day Sabean said that the rumors of us looking at Ramirez are genuine.
http://sanfrancisco.giants.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090102&content_id=3731395&vkey=news_sf&fext=.jsp&c_id=sf
http://sanfrancisco.giants.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090102&content_id=3731395&vkey=news_sf&fext=.jsp&c_id=sf
- 2,886
- 3,542
- Marin County, C
I want to say a few things about that article, but first I was to say, I really don't want Manny in our clubhouse. The sources I think are a load of bull crap, I would like to see them. I know for a fact that ESPN is a load of crap half the time, and watching ESPN on the TV pretty much proves my point. What I do think they are looking at is something that Sabean did, and thats wanting to put a limit on how much we spend. So we have more money in the future to re-sign contracts with some of our up and coming big named stars. Lincecum and Sandoval for example with have their paychecks increased tremendously having proving themselves as quality players. The Giants are one of the wealthiest teams in baseball, a few years ago they were ranked 7th wealthiest team.
We seat 38-40,000+ people a game at $25-30+ a ticket.. Another thing is, we are going to have a TON of big expensive contracts expiring in the next year or so landing us with more money. (Winn, Rowand, Roberts etc.) I doubt the Giants don't have the recourses to pay Manny, and I trust our GM's word more then ESPN's. Specially since they don't even post their sources... how lame 👎
EDIT: What really sparks the ******** in that article is saying that we are NOT interested in Crede (And again I do NOT want Crede on our team) saying we have no interest is bull crap because Sabean can't stop talking about him. This is why I hate ESPN, nothing but uncredited sources rumors. They're media, all they care for is views from the public, not telling the news.
- 3,542
- Marin County, C
We have Fred Lewis who is twice as fast and can still hit pretty good, plus he was injured for part of last year. And we also now have Schierholtz who could be a 20 home-run a year kind of guy. Who knows, I think Sandoval, Ishikawa and Schierholtz can make the difference this year. They are HUGE upgrades,
- 26,897
- Houston, Texas, USA
- JMarine25
My congratulations go out to Rickey Henderson and Jim Rice for making the 2009 Hall of Fame. Well-deserved. Among others, of course.
Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/news/breaking_news/story/976878.html
Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/news/breaking_news/story/976878.html
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- 3,542
- Marin County, C
I'm glad Jim Rice made it... but not because he deserves it, because my economics teachers name is Jim Rice 
Hes a pretty cool guy 
Hes a pretty cool guy
- 26,897
- Houston, Texas, USA
- JMarine25
There's been a variety of ongoing stories. Hottest topic has been Manny Ramirez turning down $20M to play for the Dodgers.
[UPDATE] I heard that the Dodgers have some interest in Adam Dunn and Orlando Rivera(?). Dunn is a good player. Thing is, if he goes to L.A., will the D-Backs suffer too much to where they aren't as productive from top to bottom?
[UPDATE] I heard that the Dodgers have some interest in Adam Dunn and Orlando Rivera(?). Dunn is a good player. Thing is, if he goes to L.A., will the D-Backs suffer too much to where they aren't as productive from top to bottom?
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- 3,542
- Marin County, C
- 2,886
Dunn didn't do a whole lot in his stine with the D-Backs last season, he hit a few homers, drew a bunch of walks, but he really isn't too good of a defensive outfielder.
It wouldn't surprise me if the Dodgers went after Dunn and Orlando Hudson, D-Backs already brought in Felipe Lopez to play 2nd, Eric Byrnes will be back to play either left field or 1st, and they've pretty much made it clear that they're not gonna pay what O-Dog and Dunn are asking.
It wouldn't surprise me if the Dodgers went after Dunn and Orlando Hudson, D-Backs already brought in Felipe Lopez to play 2nd, Eric Byrnes will be back to play either left field or 1st, and they've pretty much made it clear that they're not gonna pay what O-Dog and Dunn are asking.
- 3,542
- Marin County, C
- 2,886
Hudson is a very good 2nd baseman, he won a gold glove with Toronto and has been that caliber of defender the last couple of seasons. Unfortunately he gets himself into trouble by being too physical and the results have been having 2 hand injuries the last 2 years that forced him to miss the remainder of those seasons.
- 3,542
- Marin County, C
