2014 Official Major League Baseball Thread

[Merlot]

BOYZZZ!

Question of the day: Is Doc Holliday a prophet?

Well it finally happened. The same team that spent $450 million in the off-season to make it to the playoffs and try for a World Series just went under .500 for a king's ransom at 41-42 for the year. What kind of team spends that much and gets worse than last year? The New York Yankees that's who. Hey well, thanks for all your brilliance Mr. Cashman. YOU SUCK DONKEY BALLS! Seriously, how can any GM not be fired when it gets this bad, never mind the extraordinary price it cost to achieve that failure.

Now top it off with who did this to them. The last place 38-49 Tampa Bay Rays swept their grossly overpaid butts.. What the heck do you call that?

an EMBARRASSMENT!!!! :thumb:

You're damn right Mr.t, but it's now gone beyond that. I'd say HUMILIATION!!!!

Doc got it right. This team is going to be fighting to stay out of the bottom...and regarding the playoffs for the Yankees.

A perfect reflection of the state of the New York Yankees!!!

Cheers,

Merlot

 

[Joe.t]

Yup, it looks like it is going to come down to a very entertaining three way race between the improved Blue Jays, Orioles and Yankees who are still ahead of the Red Sux who are getting spanked silly by perennial losers and historically the worst team in baseball the Cubs, imagine the Cubs, the second worst hitting team in baseball are going to town on the Red Sux pitching, you want to talk about HUMILIATION!!!!, peeeeeeuuuuuuu!!!!.
You know that management has given up on the season when they call up prospects such as Mookie Betts so early in the season.:yield:

AL East how I see it ending.

1. Toronto.
2. New York(Don't count out David Price being a Yankee).
3. Baltimore.
4. Tampa.















5. Boston.:nod:

 

[lgna69xxx]

Guys , i thought i should share this with you all........ Was walking down St Catherines about an hour ago and as I was getting updates on my phone about a "little party about to go down" I hear a knock from a resto window so I look and guess who? RUMPLES!!!!!!!!!! I about crapped my pants lol!!!

Out of a city the size of Mtl what are the odds??? He politely stopped his meal to come out and chat for 5 mins. He even admitted the Red Sox SUCK! (course he also said so do the yankees, hey we cant have everything now can we HAHA)

Anyways he tells me he is back on Merb in 10 days so button down the hatches! (my word not his)

 

[Special K]

I hope you politely extended a personal invitation to the weekend festivities.

 

[Joe.t]

Guys , i thought i should share this with you all........ Was walking down St Catherines about an hour ago and as I was getting updates on my phone about a "little party about to go down" I hear a knock from a resto window so I look and guess who? RUMPLES!!!!!!!!!! I about crapped my pants lol!!!

Out of a city the size of Mtl what are the odds??? He politely stopped his meal to come out and chat for 5 mins. He even admitted the Red Sox SUCK! (course he also said so do the yankees, hey we cant have everything now can we HAHA)

Anyways he tells me he is back on Merb in 10 days so button down the hatches! (my word not his)

I for one am not happy about this, they seem to have find out a cure for his delusionitis that he suffers from, I prefer the old rumples, that version of rumples was absolutely hilarious.

 

[Joe.t]

It's official, the Red Sux are in last place and are an absolute joke of a team and have become the laughing stock of MLB, this team has absolutely no pride and are an embarrassment, 2013= Fluke.


http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/standings/index.jsp?tcid=mm_mlb_standings

 

[Merlot]

BOYZZZ!

...2013= Fluke.

It's amusing how the 2013 World Series Boston Red Sox Championship really sticks in your gut. So sorry to see you suffering.

YUP! It's very REAL...Joe.

The Sox have been in rebuild mode for two years. We happened to win a World Series Championship in the first year. YEAH! That will drive any Yankee fan right over the edge, especially with the futile waste of $450 million Cahsman spent out of HUMILIATION when the Red Sox took the World Series.

I ran into a Yankees fan from New York state. When we got around to how his team was doing he couldn't help laughing about how the huge spending and how the team been doing worse than last year, shaking his head with bewildered EMBARRASSMENT! We remembered that the Yankees of the 1990s were built with some solid home grown players like Jeter and Rivera and amazed at how there is no reliable home grown hitter the team can build a future around. Cashman has spent the last decade damaging and possibly destroying the core foundation the winning teams of the 90s were built on. He said, he can't even watch them any more.

When the Yankees had a good core of players that was worth adding free agents to it made sense, though the amount spent to get them was always just ridiculous. But now the end result of this policy has lost the Yankees their future and nearly all of those huge money free agents have turned into injured paper weights that produce little if anything while burdening the team with huge costs and costing the team prospects they could have built a future with. Cashman has failed utterly. The only choices now are go on another free agent splurge for a quick fix with few development prospects, or bit the bullet for a number of years and do some real farm development.

Cashman with Yankees fans money. Burn baby burn.

Some Sox fans talk about trades and free agents to save the season with the theory The Sox could get hot. No, not a chance. This team is what it is this year. A tough decision has to be made about John Lester and whether to resign him. Lester despite his record is a very tough pitcher worth having for a few more years, but not 5 to 7 more. He's is not the kind of pitcher who is likely to morph into a very fine control pitcher, so going more than three years for the kind of money he wants and deserves at his status is likely to be a poor risk. I am very happy the Red Sox are sticking with what they have and giving these players some experience to see what character they have, and I don't have any desire to see them go after financial risks that are grossly burdensome.

:noidea: ,

Merlot

 

[Doc Holliday]

Right now, they all suck except for Baltimore.

But my prediction that the Rays will surpass the Red Sox and send them to the basement, thus making them the first team to go from last place to a championship & back to last place the following season looks more & more like it'll come true! :eyebrows:

 

[Joe.t]

Right now, they all suck except for Baltimore.

But my prediction that the Rays will surpass the Red Sox and send them to the basement, thus making them the first team to go from last place to a championship & back to last place the following season looks more & more like it'll come true! :eyebrows:

Doc it has been already done, the Red Sox are officially in the basement.


Another embarrassing performance tonight, a two hit shutout loss to some no name pitcher with a terrible ERA, pathetic!!!.

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2014_07_07_chamlb_bosmlb_1&mode=box

 

[Doc Holliday]

I was listening to their pre-game show yesterday on my drive back home & the announcers sounded totally exasperated with that team. As they said, say all you want about the pitching, but when most of your team doesn't hit, you can't win any games that way.

The entire team has been a tremendous disappointment. For the first couple of months, Bogaerts carried this team offensively, but he's now in a tremendous slump and hitting in the .230's. Surprisingly, their hottest hitter has been Jackie Bradley Jr., so that tells you everything you need to know. Brock Holt has been steady, but he's also starting to slump.

This team is playing even worse at this point than Bobby Valentine's team & it's not even close. Local media & many of their supporters are calling for the trading of unproductive veterans in order to rebuild the team for the future. Yes, they even want the likes of Pappy & Pedroia to be traded!

I believe that the time has indeed come to trade the aging Ortiz, who will never be the player he once was. He's approaching the filthy forties & the money they're paying him should be spent elsewhere. I'm 50/50 on Pedroia. He's the team's leader & still its best player, but that's exactly why he could be traded now since he'll still get them some quality players. I'd also trade Mike Napoli since his best seasons are behind him & he can still get you some decent prospects.

Jake Peavy will likely be gone soon. He's been a huge disappointment. Clay Bucholz could be gone, but he doesn't have a very high value right now. The time to trade him was last year. Doubront could also be gone to a team needing a decent left arm in its bullpen.

I also doubt John Farrell can last another season if the team ends up finishing last. Let's face it: they've been an embarrassment lately & what i'm seeing is the same b.s. that i saw in Toronto during Farrell's last season.

I think it wouldn't hurt for the Red Sox to hire a fresh new face....a younger manager with new ideas. But in order to do so & help out this young manager, they need to clean house of its veterans, who will never accept any change from a younger new manager. In their minds, nothing drastic should be done since they believe they are still playing like champions and that last year was no abberhation. Obviously to outsiders with an unbiased view, they were shit-lucky last year. That was a team that surprised everybody by going from last to first. And now they're back in last place. So there you go.

 

[Merlot]

BOYZ!!!

I think it wouldn't hurt for the Red Sox to hire a fresh new face....a younger manager with new ideas. But in order to do so & help out this young manager, they need to clean house of its veterans, who will never accept any change from a younger new manager. In their minds, nothing drastic should be done since they believe they are still playing like champions and that last year was no abberhation. Obviously to outsiders with an unbiased view, they were shit-lucky last year. That was a team that surprised everybody by going from last to first. And now they're back in last place. So there you go.

Doc, first, congratulations on your prediction, or should I say "predictions". For some time you guaranteed the Yankees would finish last, and now it's the Red Sox. Joe.t pay attention. This is how you double your prediction chances by saying more than one team will finish in the same place. Who knows. With a tie you might even get both right.

Now Doc, your view that the team was "shit lucky" comes off as sour grapes and it looks silly. You mean to say a team can go through the entire 162 game process and 3 rounds of playoffs and it's just all about luck...with the excellent pitching staffs those teams had??? C'mon Doc, you're intelligent enough to know how nonsensical that view looks. The Red Sox just aren't hitting. Their pitching has been good enough to take third or second, but their hitting sucks. A major reason is some key contributors have not played like Middlebrooks and Victorino. Also, Ortiz has been swinging to the pitchers strength instead of his by pulling the ball instead of trying to go through the shift. Last year all the elements fell together simultaneously. So that bit of fortune is a fluke statistically but no team can go through nearly 200 games and take the Championship on a fluke. The fluke excuse also demeans the Jays and Leafs who have not been able to win it all for a combined 60 years because of what...you imply they just don't have luck? It never had anything to do with skill and leadership, or lack of...it was just a lack of luck??? Peeeeuuuuuuuuuuu!

Personally, I think you need to say it was a fluke because of bias against Farrell and need for an excuse as to why he led the team to a Championship in his first year when he couldn't in Toronto, which still doesn't look that great without Farrell and finished very poorly in 2013.

A lot of your other points I would agree with and I have previously cited most of them myself long ago. But the other points look like a superficial disguise for anger against Farrell.

BTW - I'm very surprised Joe.t has not accused the Red Sox of using steroids in 2013. C'mon Joe I know you can do it. Please buddy!!! But then he'd have to explain why that didn't work this year.

KISS THE RING Joe...Kiss the ring.

Cheers,

Merlot

 

[Doc Holliday]

Merlot, i don't have sour grapes against John Farrell. I was actually extremely happy that he deserted the Jays with still a couple of years left to go on his contract. He seemed like a decent man, but to be honest, he sucked monkey balls as a manager. Questionable pitching changes, questionable lineups, giving the green light to steal to nearly everyone on the lineup (and it turned into a farce) and finding out from Omar Vizquel before the season wasn't even over that it was a free-for-all out there & inside the clubhouse & no one was being accounted for the team's poor play and poor decision-making by some of the players. There was zero accountability. It was like an out-of-control classroom. Farrell also admitted after the first season that he had badly mismanaged the pitching staff (mostly the bullpen) and that he would learn from his mistakes. At least he shared some of the blame, so i give him that.

Was it simply a coincidence that he was Francona's right-hand man when the Sox totally blew up in their last season together?

I can't see Farrell returning next season, even if he's the GM's best buddy. The fans won't accept it, and neither will the owner. He's simply a terrible manager managing a team that is better than it's showing. When the manager cannot motivate its high-priced talent, it's time to send him to the outhouse.

 

[lgna69xxx]

It was a great week last week. I met up with and saw Maria Star 3 times in 4 days, partied with some amazing ladies and met some great friends and new ones at GG4 and the Rouge Hose landed in LAST PLACE! Man oh man, it dont get much better than that! I did run into rumples but it was cool, at least he admitted the red sox SUCK! Great Great GREAT week indeed! :thumb: :lol:

 

[Doc Holliday]

I did run into rumples but it was cool, at least he admitted the red sox SUCK! Great Great GREAT week indeed! :thumb: :lol:

I had a similar experience both at the party & afterwards. Two prominent Yankees fans also admitted to me that indeed, the Yankees also suck monkey balls. So i'll go on record as saying that the Jays also suck. Who ever thought that all three teams suck right now?? Any Orioles fans on the board??

 

[smuler]

We Mets suck too Doc

Best Regards

Smuler

 

[Doc Holliday]

Indians bomb Tanaka in 5-3 Tribe win

Masa Tanaka had his worst outing of the year tonight & suffered the loss in a 5-3 Cleveland win. He allowed 10 hits and 5 earned runs in only 6.2 innings of work. His earned run average climbed to a very respectable 2.51 and some may wonder if he shouldn't rest instead of heading to the all-star game next week. He's now lost 3 out of his past 4 games. It's quite possible that he's fatigued. It's also quite possible that the league's hitters have made the adjustment & are getting used to his pitching.

The light-hitting NY Yankees only had 4 hits. Jeter went hitless again. Ellsbury had a hit and he's hitting .279. Not bad, but anything under .300 for this guy has to be deemed a total disappointment. Texeira also had a hit and he's hitting an embarrassing .239. He still has three years to go on his big contract. Brian "The Bust" McCann also had a hit and he's now hitting .231. Embarrassing, to say the least. But at least he owned up to it. Former Jay Kelly Johnson went hitless again and he's barely hitting .215. Some bum named Zelous Wheeler (I kid you not!) played third in Alex Rodriguez' spot and went hitless. He's hitting for .200.

With Sabathia out for the year & the Yankees having released the corpse of Alfonso Soriano to the undertaker, what does manager Joe Girardi have left in his bag of tricks?

On another note, the third-worse team in the league (the Red Sox) were beaten again tonight. I don't remember the score since i don't pay much attention to that team anymore. All i remember is that Ortiz & Drew went hitless again. The slumping Xavier Bogaerts had a hit and his average is now .239. How long will they continue going with Stephen Drew, who is currently one of baseball's worst players? How long will John Farrell hang on to his job? It's obvious that team has stopped listening to him & needs a major facelift.

 

[Special K]

DL for the only decent starter the Skanks have!! Sayonara Tanaka!!!!!!!!

Back to NY for an MRI & Off to the DL now.

 

[Doc Holliday]

Red Sox waive A.J. Pierzynski

The Boston Red Sox continued their youth movement Wednesday, designating struggling catcher A.J. Pierzynski for assignment and promoting prospect Christian Vazquez to take his place.

Red Sox manager John Farrell confirmed the move in an interview on Boston sports radio station WEEI, saying the 23-year-old Vazquez will make his major league debut Wednesday night against the Chicago White Sox and bat ninth.

Farrell said the move didn't represent the Red Sox waving the white flag on the season, but he said the team is "turning the page in terms of investing in young players."

The 37-year-old Pierzynski, who signed with the Red Sox before the season, is having perhaps the worst year of his career. He is hitting .254 with a .286 on-base percentage and four home runs. He had been even worse over the past month or so. Since June 1, Pierzynski was hitting .194 (18 for 93) with no homers, four RBIs and three extra-base hits. In 100 plate appearances over 27 games during that span, he had just four walks.

Pierzynski DFA'd by Red Sox

Who will be the next Red Sox player to suffer the same fate? Stephen Drew? Daniel Nava? Wade Middlebrooks? David Ross? A pitcher? John Farrell?

 

[Doc Holliday]

DL for the only decent starter the Skanks have!! Sayonara Tanaka!!!!!!!!

Sayonara Tanaka indeed!!!!

Is Mr. Tanaka headed for a visit with Dr. Frank Jobe for some Tommy John?? Will he be the second bonafide starter that the Yankees will have to shut down for the rest of the season?

I believe that Mr. Tanaka is realizing that pitching in the major leagues is much different than pitching in the Japanese league! Pitching on a regular basis to major league hitters takes a toll on a pitching arm. I also said from day one that Tanaka had thrown a very elevated amount of pitches throughout his Japanese league career & that i wasn't so sure his arm would be able to hold up in the long run. Of course, i predicted that his arm would be shot in a few years, not in his first season!

Oh, what a gamble it was for the Bronx Bombers! My what a major disappointment could be on the horizon if Tanaka discovers he may need Tommy John surgery to continue pitching in the big leagues!

If he misses on extended period, it will be somewhat unfortunate for me since the only time i felt like watching this version of the Yankees was when Tanaka was pitching. Otherwise, they are an extremely boring team to watch.

 

[Merlot]

BOYZZZ!

Merlot, i don't have sour grapes against John Farrell.

Okay, I understand why you feel that way and you are entitled. But when you say any team can play up to 183 games, including the playoffs, and win the World Series because of luck it does look emotional and irrational.

Farrell was with the Red Sox from 2007 to 2010. He wasn't with them when the team blew up at the end of 2011, Francona's last year with the Sox. Farrell was with the Jays in 2011. Farrell was the pitching coach when the Red Sox won the World Series in 2007. So that theory has a bit of a hole in it, especially when you count those TWO Championship rings..

http://espn.go.com/boston/mlb/story...cquire-manager-john-farrell-toronto-blue-jays

Indians bomb Tanaka in 5-3 Tribe win

Masa Tanaka had his worst outing of the year tonight & suffered the loss in a 5-3 Cleveland win. .

Ironically it was Nick the Swisher who put the biggest dagger in Yankee hearts with a game deciding boomer.

DL for the only decent starter the Skanks have!! Sayonara Tanaka!!!!!!!!

Back to NY for an MRI & Off to the DL now.

No All-Star game for you! Oh my FREAKING word, say it aint so Joe.t. Tanaka's star has fallen just a bit lately. I think players may have figured him out a bit, though he has till been good. But going on the DL? GEEEEEEEEEEEEEEZ!!! Is this some inherent fragility showing. It's not even the All-Star break yet and Tanaka-san is injured. If this is a foreboding of persistent troubles to come that 7-year $155 million contract could be the biggest boondoggle of Cashman's many, at least for pitchers. And, that $20 million posting fee just to talk with him. OUCH...OUCH...OUCH!!! It will even make the Matsuzaka signing look like a very good deal.

I'm dying to see what the EB (Joe.t2) thinks of this after practically giving away the Cy Young, MVP, and whatever to Tanaka half way through the season. I swear, the Yankees fans here must be chicken farmers. They always count their eggs before they've got them.

Who will be the next Red Sox player to suffer the same fate? Stephen Drew? Daniel Nava? Wade Middlebrooks? David Ross? A pitcher? John Farrell?

This has been a lost season for a while, as anyone like myself who is realistic has known. It's the perfect time to use the rest of the season to give some experience to players of the future by phasing out those who are not part of that future. The real trick is how to handle those players being brought in so that they gain confidence without shaking it from them.

Cheers,

merlot