2016 Official Major League Baseball Thread

[Passionné]

...top 2 managers in the game along with Joe Maddon.

A few things saved Maddon when he tried to throw the Series away. Kluber going for a 3rd time in 9 days. Miller coming down from Mt Olympus. A rain delay allowing the Cubs the rally emotionally. Maddon tried piss away finally breaking through Kluber with that double squeeze attempt costing him Hendricks, who was cruising through innings. Putting Lester in to save an inning instead of starting him off earlier in a clean inning, that idiotic use of Chapman the day before turning him into a batting practice dummy in game 7. Those Cubs players saved the game and the Championship for Maddon.

Francona. Have you ever seen a manager lose his number 2 and 3 starters and still put together a playoff run like that? He did an awesome job of managing. Unfortunately his best pitching assets came to their mortality at the worst moments.......in game 7.

Anyway, The CUBS did it. I was so happy this morning for their fans. Very surprised but happy.

 

[EagerBeaver]

Sanchez, Fullmer Finalist For AL Rookie of Year

As predicted it will be between Michael Fullmer and Gary Sanchez for AL Rookie of the Year:

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/...chicago-cubs-highlight-mvp-cy-young-finalists

Gary would be the first Yankee to win since Derek Jeter in 1996.

 

[Doc Holliday]

Blue Jays sign Kendrys Morales for $33 million/3 years.

 

[Doc Holliday]

The Toronto Blue Jays have signed Cuban prospect Lourdes Gurriel Jr., to a multi-year deal. His older brother is part of the Houston Astros organization.

 

[hungry101]

Post season awards: Michael Fulmer ROY and Justin Verlander runner up to Ricky Porcello for Cy Young and Kate Upton's Tweet

Kate Upton Savages Cy Young Voters: I thought I was the only person allowed to FUCK Justin Verlander.

Kate Upton went to bat for her baseball-star fiancé, Justin Verlander, in a hilarious and profane tweet in which she claimed the pitcher was robbed of the American League Cy Young Award.

“Hey @MLB I thought I was the only person allowed to f–k @JustinVerlander ?!” the busty Sports Illustrated model tweeted Wednesday to the official account of Major League Baseball.

“What 2 writers didn’t have him on their ballot?”

Upton was furious that those sportswriters — Fred Goodall of The Associated Press and Bill Chastain of MLB.com — left the Detroit Tigers right-hander off their ballots.

The snub caused Verlander to fall just short of winning the prize, which is awarded to the regular season’s top pitcher. Boston’s Rick Porcello won by five points. The final tally is based on a weighted system in which each writer lists five pitchers, in order.

Verlander “had the majority of 1st place votes and 2 writers didn’t have him on their ballots?!!” the bombshell tweeted. “can you pick more out of touch people to vote?@MLB”

Verlander did, in fact, receive the most first-place votes, with 14, while Porcello garnered just eight such votes on the 30 ballots. And the disparity was not lost on Kate.

“Sorry Rick but you didn’t get any 1st place votes? you didn’t win,” Upton wrote. “@MLB keep up with the times and fire those writers.”

Porcello said he wasn’t concerned about the tweet storm, and was just looking forward to celebrating his win.

“I honestly don’t care” Porcello told ESPN. “I’ve got a lot of people around me right now that I love very much and are instrumental in my success. And on top of that, we’ve got some really good bottles of wine that need to be drank.”

Upton found some sympathy from Mets pitcher Noah Syndergaard, who failed to win the National League Cy Young.

Follow
Noah Syndergaard ✔ @Noahsyndergaard
It's OK Kate...I only got 4 votes.....total. Nobody likes me ��https://twitter.com/kateupton/status/799038477237108737 …
7:19 PM - 16 Nov 2016
5,299 5,299 Retweets 13,245 13,245 likes
Porcello, a New Jersey native and a former teammate of Verlander’s, led the majors with 22 wins.

Among the top three finishers in the AL Cy Young race, Verlander, who posted a 16-9 record, had the lowest ERA (3.04) and threw the most innings (227²/₃).

 

[EagerBeaver]

That's a funny tweet by Kate Upton. Reminds me of a similar tweet when Tom Brady had a bad game a few years ago and Giselle Bundchen threw the Patriots WRs under the bus for running poor routes and dropping passes and also Steph Curry's wife last year during the NBA finals posting assorted critical statements via Tweet, although in fairness it was obvious that Curry was hurt and not 100% with his shooting and the wife knew this and was frustrated. These women should stand by their men.

 

[Passionné]

Post season awards: Michael Fulmer ROY and Justin Verlander runner up to Ricky Porcello for Cy Young and Kate Upton's Tweet

Kate Upton Savages Cy Young Voters: I thought I was the only person allowed to FUCK Justin Verlander.

Kate Upton went to bat for her baseball-star fiancé, Justin Verlander, in a hilarious and profane tweet in which she claimed the pitcher was robbed of the American League Cy Young Award.

“Hey @MLB I thought I was the only person allowed to f–k @JustinVerlander ?!” the busty Sports Illustrated model tweeted Wednesday to the official account of Major League Baseball.

GOKATEGO!

I'll bet Verlander's bat is standing tall after that comment. There's a nuclear hot babe who knows how to get in with her man and protect her share of his $140 million even if she already has $20 million of her own. #GOODGIRL. Wouldn't we all kill to have such a gorgeous woman with spectacular boobs like that telling everyone she's banging us. http://i60.tinypic.com/2v18dbk.png :thumb:

Maybe it's Kate's honest opinion but the stats don't support it. The stats are close in many ways except the wins vs loses and strike out to walks ratios. There's no way to justify saying Verlander got robbed. The new CY YOUNG AWARD WINNER RICK PORCELLO came back from a 2015 where he was almost pathetic and became an almost guaranteed lock down starter every time he went out to the mound. His strike out to walk ratio was outstanding, best in the MLB. When it comes to wins it's #1 Porcello vs #6 Verlander in the AL, #1 vs #13 in the MLB. ERAs and WHIPs were almost matching. Then for what Porcello meant to the team with all the shaky other starters is another big factor. Porcello did it almost on his own for long stretches. The outcome of the vote is as it should have been.

Cheers

 

[hungry101]

Ricky P earned it. He is not a bad candidate for the award. To me it was either Ricky or Justin. Justin, had a good second half last season (2015) and continued with one of his most dominant seasons ever in 2016. He struggled in 2014. Ricky P had a miserable 1st year with the Sox. Both bounced back very well in 2016.

The case for Justin Verlander:

JV RP
IP 227.2 223
K's 254 189
ER 77 78
Hits 171 193
K/9 10 7.6
WPA 3.45 1.79 Win Probability Added Fangraphs
WAR 5.2 5.2 Fangraphs


The bright spot for the Tigers was that Michael Fulmer won the ROY. Now bear with me for a moment as I make this convoluted point. Ricky P was traded to the red Sox for Cespedes. Cespedes was traded by the Tigers to the Mets for Fulmer. So in effect Michael Fulmer was traded for Ricky P. Not a bad deal.

 

[Passionné]

Ricky P earned it. He is not a bad candidate for the award.

The choice is arguable depending on how one argues stats, conditions, support, quality of competition, but there's definitely no case for being robbed. Wonderful Kate. Can't fault her for favoring her fiance who also has a legit case.

 

[hungry101]

The choice is arguable depending on how one argues stats, conditions, support, quality of competition, but there's definitely no case for being robbed. Wonderful Kate. Can't fault her for favoring her fiance who also has a legit case.

Here is Kate's gripe and I agree with her: How could two voters leave JV off their ballots? That is all I can say. Justin had 14 of the 30 first place votes. Two voters left JV off their ballot. How could they?

 

[Passionné]

Two voters left JV off their ballot. How could they?

I said Verlander has a case. It's not better than Porcello's, but he has a case. However, Verlander got 4th and 5th by other voters and if the two who left him off also put him there he still loses to Porcello. Yeah, it's questionable why he was left off the ballot, but it's also questionable why he got more 1st places votes. Over all, it's a wash.

Congratulations to Mookie Betts on being 2nd in the MVP voting, and to Mike Trout on being the MVP. Here's another debatable case though. Compared to Trout, Betts had more PAs, BAs, 40 more HITS, 10 more 2Bs, more HRs, 10 more RBIs, 57 less SOs despite less than half the BBs of Trout, Betts had a slightly better BA and 57 more TBs. Of course Trout was better on OBP, SLG, and OPS, OPS+. Betts was also a marginally better fielder by stats.

 

[EagerBeaver]

Cabrera and Verlander Available

Looks like the Tigers want salary relief and Miguel Cabrera and Justin Verlander will be getting shopped:

http://www.espn.com/mlb/insider/story/_/id/18065466/blengino-need-power-go-get-miguel-cabrera

A trade that makes sense would be Michael Pineda straight up for Verlander and the Yankees take on Verlander contract. I also think Cabrera could be used, but only as a full time DH. That means if any prospects are sent that the Tigers really have to eat a little of that contract as he is worth less now as a full time DH. Like Tigers eat around $5 million a year and then the deal is doable.

 

[hungry101]

Why do you say that Cabrara can only play DH? I do not agree. Just checking with FanGraphs, Miguel is 6th in Defensive WAR for 1B.

http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.as...am=0&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0&sort=25,d

I have been reading rumors on the Tiger's web site about cutting salary. They are talking about "partnering" with the Giants with JD Martinez. Apparently, partnering is a euphemism for casting off good players for bad and ruining a good team.

This all reminds me of the Dombrowski's Fister deal with the Washington Nationals. Dumb-dumb traded Fister for Lombardozi (out of baseball), Robbie Ray (sent back to AAA), and Ian Krol (also sent back to AAA) to save 3 MM$ of salary. Why save 3$MM when you are paying a few orders of magnitude more? We had the best rotation in baseball and Dumb-Dumb kept signing experienced free agent closers that were over the hill. Dumb-dumb was fired because he was caught interviewing with Boston. Al Avila was promoted to take his place. I have as much confidence in this dunce as I do his son catcher Alex Avila going up to bat and not striking out.

What I don't understand is what is Mike Ilitch thinking? Does he need to further skimp on the toppings of his bad pizzas in order to pay these guys? What was he thinking when he signed Cabrara to that contract in the first place? Does he want to get out of baseball? They would of won that championship if they would of kept Rodney. I would like to see Cabrara traded for a boat load of young proven players and prospects. There are fools that will do it. I remember when Detroit traded a washed up Denny McClain to the Senators for Joe Coleman, Ed Brinkman and Rodriguez...what a haul that was.

 

[EagerBeaver]

Yankees Sign Matt Holiday

The Yankees signed Matt Holiday to a one year contract, presumably to fill a hole at righthanded DH and play sparingly elsewhere. He is a veteran bat and was productive last year and should be a good clubhouse leader:

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/18205198/matt-holliday-agrees-1-year-13m-deal-yankees
http://www.espn.com/mlb/player/_/id/5940/matt-holliday

 

[lgna69xxx]

Smart and good signing.

The Yankees signed Matt Holiday to a one year contract, presumably to fill a hole at righthanded DH and play sparingly elsewhere. He is a veteran bat and was productive last year and should be a good clubhouse leader:

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/18205198/matt-holliday-agrees-1-year-13m-deal-yankees
http://www.espn.com/mlb/player/_/id/5940/matt-holliday

 

[Doc Holliday]

The Blue Jays signed ultra-utility player Steve Pearce for two years/$12.5 million. This is a great deal for the team. There's also strong indication that they're after first-baseman Mitch Moreland, which means that the chances of Edwin Encarnacion re-signing with the team are getting smaller by the day.

 

[Passionné]

RED SOX ACQUIRE CHRIS SALE!

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2016/12/red-sox-to-acquire-chris-sale.html

12:32pm: USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reports that minor league outfielder Luis Alexander Basabe and minor league right-hander Victor Diaz are going to the White Sox as well (on Twitter).

12:14pm: The Red Sox and White Sox have agreed to a blockbuster trade that will send Chris Sale from Chicago to Boston in exchange for Yoan Moncada, Michael Kopech and two other prospects, reports Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (on Twitter).


In acquiring Sale, the Red Sox will add one of the game’s most dominant pitchers to add to a star-studded rotation that’ll also feature David Price and Rick Porcello, with other options including Eduardo Rodriguez, Steven Wright, Drew Pomeranz and Clay Buchholz. As such, president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski should have no shortage of rotation depth from which to deal if he desires to utilize that theoretical surplus to address other areas of need on the roster.

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If the 5 starters only pitch up to reasonable expectations it's going to be DEVASTATING starting rotation. Now if the team can find a reliable closer and set up guy it will be a long season for other teams. Sale is young and has been in the top 6 of Cy Young contenders for 5 straight years, and an All-Star each year.

Cheers

 

[Doc Holliday]

This is a great acquisition by the Red Sox. But from what i'm hearing from members of the Boston media, it's not unanimous and many are bitching that the Red Sox paid a huge price to obtain him.

Sale's contract for the next 3-4 years is very reasonable. It makes you wonder why the White Sox gave him up, unless the Red Sox offer was too tempting to refuse. Many suspect the White Sox started that rumour that he would possibly be traded to the Nationals in order to get the Red Sox to add to their already reasonable offer.

 

[EagerBeaver]

The White Sox have been looking to trade Sale for the last two years. He had a serious falling out with the organization and the GM over various things and has earned a head case reputation off the field. It has been clear for a long time the White Sox wanted to trade him and were waiting for an offer that blew them away. Moncada is the key guy and the Red Sox paid an enormous posting fee for him if I recall, outbidding the Yankees and other teams. He is close to major league ready.

 

[Doc Holliday]

Moncada is the key guy and the Red Sox paid an enormous posting fee for him if I recall, outbidding the Yankees and other teams. He is close to major league ready.

I've also heard that Moncada is a tremendous prospect. And yes, Chris Sale also has a reputation of being quite a head-case and being insubordinate over the past year or so. But he's a lefty, after all. They're all pretty flaky if you ask me!