Baseball offseason, let's get ready for 2014.

[lgna69xxx]

Geez Joe, that is quite a nice list.

Lemme see here, in all seriousness I would go with the following Top 10 list as most knowledgeable (i am too humble to include myself) of all MERB baseball posters:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itAOGRiYRLI


1. Doc "Allstar" Holliday
2. Chercherfemmes aka "The Baseball Encyclopedia"
3. Eagerbeaver "The most talented guy to trip over a glass coffee table in front of 20 gorgeous girls and not drop his cocktail" (i am still so impressed)
4. Joe.t aka "Mr. Nikova"
5. Special "Shane Murphy Groupie" K
6. "Fire one up" Smuler
7. Rumple "MIA" 4skin
8. J "MIA" Man
9. My Dog Roofus "woof woof"
10. The "Terror Twins" aka Lucille and Stella

less than a week til Spring Training "Boyz"

Very well said as usual iggy, you really know your stuff when it comes to baseball, I think that Nova might be a big surprise but I'm really looking forward to watching Tanaka and especially Pineda pitch, 43 days and counting.

For historical purposes an updated all time rankings of the most knowledgeable MERB members for the sport of baseball.

1. Eagerbeaver.
2. Iggy.
3. Doc Holliday.
4. Mitsou.
5. rumpleforskin.

:thumb:

 

[Joe.t]

Pineda is finally 100 percent healthy and ready to go, the Yankees on paper look like they have one of the best starting rotations in all of baseball.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp...tebook_id=67619940&vkey=notebook_nyy&c_id=nyy

 

[EagerBeaver]

Cervelli will be a quality backup catcher. He was playing fucking great before he got hurt last year.

 

[lgna69xxx]

Tanaka's arrival is "So Yankees"

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/11/sports/baseball/tanaka-rents-boeing-787-for-entrance.html?_r=0

 

[Doc Holliday]

No love lost between Omar Visquel and John Farrell

The Omar Vizquel-John Farrell relationship went sideways in June of 2012.

Both men were wearing Blue Jays uniforms.

Both had their own good intentions, but each was operating on a parallel paths.

Vizquel is from Venezuela and the man everyone his country’s baseball community looks up to and not simply because he’s headed to the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.

He’s admired for what he did in June that season. The Jays back-up infielder chose to fly in the family of starter Henderson Alvarez from Valencia, Venz., to Miami. The family could not afford the flight and Alvarez was earning basically the major-league minimum of $482,900 US.

The Alvarez family made the seven-hour flight north to see the right-hander pitch against the Marlins. Alvarez was scheduled to start the final game of the series on Sunday June 24.

Farrell had other ideas.

Now, you have to remember this was just days after the not-so-memorable week which saw Brandon Morrow, Kyle Drabek and Drew Hutchison all walked off the mound with injuries after pitching a combined five innings (facing a total of 25 hitters in the three games).

They Jays headed on the road starting Alvarez, Jesse Chavez and Joel Carreno in Milwaukee against the Brewers and then headed to south Florida.

The Alvarez family arrived with one and all giving Vizquel hugs of thanks.

Meanwhile, in the manager’s office, Farrell had decided to bump Alvarez from his scheduled Sunday start to Monday when the Jays were at Fenway Park. Instead, Chavez would pitch the finale of the Marlins series.

Eventually news filtered to Vizquel. Knowing the expense he’d gone to flying the Alvarez family in to see him pitch and now he was not going to start, the infielder headed for Farrell’s office.

Farrell’s reply was something “I’m not running a Little League team here, I’m doing what’s best for the team.”

It was the right call.

Chavez lost to the Marlins, allowing six runs in six innings in a 9-0 loss, as Mark Buehrle pitched seven scoreless.

The next day Alvarez won, giving up five runs (three earned) in five innings in a 9-6 win over the Red Sox thanks to home runs by Jose Bautista, J.P. Arencibia and Colby Rasmus

Vizquel thought he had been slighted, began second guessing Farrell and 13 weeks later knocked Farrell’s failure to “jump on mistakes” by young players telling our Steve Simmons.

“It’s part of the inexperience. If you make mistakes and nobody says anything about it — just let it go — we’re going to keep making the same mistakes over and over. We have to stand up and say something right after a mistake happened. We have to talk about it at meetings. We have to address it in a big way in the clubhouse.

“Sometimes you have to punish players because they’re making the same mistakes over and over again.”

The next day Farrell screamed at Vizquel behind closed doors and wanted to release him.

With less than a week remaining in the season, the Jays did not think it was appropriate to release the future hall of famer.

And now the two are together in the American League:

Farrell, the manager of the World Series champion Red Sox and Vizquel newly named first base coach of the Detroit Tigers, after working last year with Los Angeles Angels minor leaguers.

No love lost between Visquel and Farrell

 

[EagerBeaver]

Tanaka: Overjoyed To Be a Yankee

http://nypost.com/2014/02/11/tanaka-debuts-in-ny-im-very-happy-to-be-a-yankee/

"Tanaka said he spoke to former Yankee Hideki Matsui about the transition from Japan to playing in New York, and the outfielder told him “how good this city was.” Tanaka said he watched Yankees-Red Sox games on television and wanted to be a part of it.

“I’m very much looking forward to playing in that environment,” Tanaka said."

 

[Merlot]

http://nypost.com/2014/02/11/tanaka-debuts-in-ny-im-very-happy-to-be-a-yankee/

:lol:

If I was a player whose talents had just been purchased for an obscene price by the richest and most free spending Daddy Warbucks team in the industry, knowing there was every opportunity to make ungodly amounts more, I'd be giving you every public relations...love me...love me...love me...statement too, knowing you'll (all Yankees fans) eat it up hook, line, and stinker.

He charged in to grab the highest bid of guaranteed money and will get paid no matter how it goes. That's all that's happened. Just ask A-Rod who still has over $60 million coming for nothing after 2014.

Hey Joe.t!!! Let me predict your predictions.

1. Yankees win the World Series.

2. The Red Sox finish last.

Just like last year huh Joe...BWAHAHA! :lol: :lol: :lol:

Cheers,

Merlot

 

[EagerBeaver]

Tanaka Press Conference

Here is the tape of the press conference. Clearly, Tanaka knows exactly what he is getting into and he is where he wants to be:

http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/eye-on...asahiro-tanaka-introduced-at-press-conference

 

[EagerBeaver]

Here is a scouting report on Tanaka from 4 neutral high ranking scouting personnel:

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2014/02/scouting-masahiro-tanaka.html

 

[Joe.t]

"One scout, who admitted being "toward the higher end of the spectrum," described Tanaka as a number one starter, without hesitation. He expects Tanaka to contend for the Cy Young, and feels he'll be one of the ten best starting pitchers in MLB in 2014."

All I can say is WOW!!!, thanks for the report Beav, I'm in awe, it looks like the Yankees have the next great Yankee, the Yankees starting 5 looks real solid, meanwhile one word describes the Red Sox rotation(laughable:lol.

I wish Fred would have a heart and unban rumples, I miss his delusional posts.

 

[Special K]

:lol:

If I was a player whose talents had just been purchased for an obscene price by the richest and most free spending Daddy Warbucks team in the industry, knowing there was every opportunity to make ungodly amounts more, I'd be giving you every public relations...love me...love me...love me...statement too, knowing you'll (all Yankees fans) eat it up hook, line, and stinker.

He charged in to grab the highest bid of guaranteed money and will get paid no matter how it goes. That's all that's happened. Just ask A-Rod who still has over $60 million coming for nothing after 2014.

You couldn't have hit the nail on the head any harder than this Merlot!! Hahahahahah!! Perfect.

"One scout, who admitted being "toward the higher end of the spectrum," described Tanaka as a number one starter, without hesitation. He expects Tanaka to contend for the Cy Young, and feels he'll be one of the ten best starting pitchers in MLB in 2014."

It's a shame Tanaka's OWN GM will only consider and promote him as a #3 starter for fear of over hyping the fragile new Yankee. What a joke!

 

[Doc Holliday]

I don't know why the Yankees didn't try to acquire Dice-K instead. He would have cost them a lot less. Reason i'm saying this is that people who have seen Tanaka pitch have been comparing him to Dice-K when he came up.

Of course, i'm aware that Dice-K is no longer the pitcher who first came up with the Red Sox. However, is the difference worth all that money?

I've also heard that he's more of a #3 starter 'at best' on most teams. Still pretty good. Maybe in 2 or 3 years he'll be the ace of the staff if he continues to develop....he's still in his prime.

 

[EagerBeaver]

Doc you have to go and read the neutral 4 scout assessment I posted above.....a link that Chercherfemmes sent to me. Those assessments have Tanaka as far better than a #3 starter. Cashman is simply trying to tamp down fan expectations. However I don't think most fans really believe he means what he says in this case. It's also something of a departure for Cashman who is well known for his blunt honesty in his public statements. This is the first time I can ever recall him saying something that most fans will not really believe.

You are also wrong about the Dice K comparison. Dice K was a typical Japanese pitcher who nibbled on the corners and lacked the aggressiveness to go after hitters, resulting in soaring pitch counts when he faced patient Major League hitters. Although Jon Lester pitches the same way sometimes, he is much bigger and stronger than Dice K and has a body durable enough to absorb the high pitch counts, as against teams like the Yankees that he will invariably nibble against (a Lester ritual).

Tanaka, on the other hand, is a man's pitcher who pitches inside and goes after hitters. He is the most aggressive pitcher to come out of Japan in recent years according to the scouts. He is also bigger and stronger than Dice K with a durable body like Lester. In Japan Tanaka was a horse with his innings pitched. This is also because he is known to pitch efficiently.

 

[smuler]

I don't know why the Yankees didn't try to acquire Dice-K instead

We resigned him a couple weeks ago :http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/eye-on...gn-daisuke-matsuzaka-to-minor-league-contract

He went 3-3 at the end of last year

If he makes the club, he will get 1.5 million


Best Regards

Smuler

 

[EagerBeaver]

Dice K has a perfect opportunity with the Mets, pitching in a pitcher-friendly ballpark against the slightly weaker National league lineups. This is a chance for him to restore his completely shot confidence. However Jenrry Mejia is a promising, much younger pitcher who will be good competition for that 5th starter spot.

 

[EagerBeaver]

Jeter to Retire after 2014 Season

http://espn.go.com/new-york/mlb/sto...jeter-says-2014-last-season-via-facebook-post

Red Sox ticket prices for last Jeter game skyrocket:

http://espn.go.com/boston/mlb/story...following-derek-jeter-retirement-announcement

The Red Sox really should have to give back some of that obscene money they are making on tickets on Jeter's last game. They should make the check payable to Hal or Hank.

 

[smuler]

Jenrry Mejia is a promising, much younger pitcher

He blew his arm out before..

I ( being a true Met fan ), don't expect shit from him

I am waiting for Noah Syndergaard.... and the return of Matt Harvey next year

Zack Wheeler will certainly be counted on, as much as Jon Niese

I correctly predicted a third place finish in the NL East last year, but 74-88 is not a good year, no matter what

If we make 500 (82-82 ) I will be happy especially with no Matt Harvey

That catcher better start panning out :eyebrows:

Best Regards

Smuler

 

[Merlot]

The Red Sox really should have to give back some of that obscene money they are making on tickets on Jeter's last game. They should make the check payable to Hal or Hank.

:lol:

Seriously, what a ridiculous statement.

http://www.ticketliquidator.com/tix/tickets.aspx?evtid=2175829

11-14B OR 26-29 5-9 2 left $1135.00
Seller's Note: Tickets will be ready for delivery by Apr 08, 2014.
11-14B OR 26-29 5-9 4 left $1137.00
Seller's Note: Tickets will be ready for delivery by Apr 08, 2014.
LEGENDS 18 9 4 left $1479.00
Seller's Note: Tickets will be ready for delivery by Apr 01, 2014.
217 3 4 left $10594.00

http://www.vividseats.com/mlb-baseball/new-york-yankees-tickets/yankees-vs-red-sox-4-13-1483211.html

Terrace Outfield 311
Row 1
[Preferred Seller]
Qty
$732.00
Buy
Estimated ship date: 04/01/14
Terrace Outfield 328
Row 2
[Preferred Seller]
Qty
$732.00
Buy
Estimated ship date: 04/01/14
Grandstand Infield 421
Row 5
Qty
$864.00
Buy
Estimated ship date: 04/09/14
Grandstand Outfield 428
Row 7
Qty
$864.00
Buy
Estimated ship date: 04/09/14
Grandstand Outfield 428
Row 8
Qty
$864.00
Buy
Estimated ship date: 04/09/14
LEGENDS 18
Row 9
[LEGENDS CLUB FOOD AND SOFT DRINKS ON AISLE]
Qty
$1400.00
Buy
Estimated ship date: 04/01/14
Terrace Outfield 312
Row 4
[TICKETS WILL BE READY FOR DELIVERY BY MAR 31]
Qty
$1633.00
Buy
Terrace Outfield 312
Row 6
[TICKETS WILL BE READY FOR DELIVERY BY MAR 31]
Qty
$1633.00
Buy
Terrace Outfield 328
Row 1
[TICKETS WILL BE READY FOR DELIVERY BY APR 01]
Qty
$1633.00
Buy
Main Dugout 217
Row 3
Qty
$8790.00

Here's just a sample of the prices for the same Red Sox game April 13, 2014 at Yankee Stadium from two outlets.

So the Red Sox tickets at Fenway will cost $350 off the Yankees in Jeter's last series, and that's called "obscene", but the Yankees tickets will make $1600, $8800, $10,600 off the Red Sox visit just for April in the suites. What will the Yanks be charging at home in September if they are charging near $$$11 THOUSAND$$$ in April. :crazy:

You've lost all your perspective if you think there's any comparison that makes the Yankees are anything less than the kings of rip offs, especially for team that took a huge nose dive last year. That's not counting a lot more tickets around $730 to $865 that's more than double the alleged Red Sox rip off.

YOU REALLY BLEW THE CALL HERE BEAV.

The funny part is a) will anyone pay those insane prices at the House Ruth Didn't Build; b) what's the likelihood Jeter won't be injured at any time and do no more than wave that ugly cap at the fans considering how many games he played all of last year, 17, all of 10%.

You've put yourself in a bad position as a blind fanboy even more...bud! But at least at Yankee Stadium the price includes seeing a WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM...only when the RED SOX are there. :nod: :thumb:

BTW: I know I'm comparing bleacher seats with suites, in some cases. The point is there are no 10s of thousands of dollars rip offs at Fenway.

Here's a sample of the highest prices in Boston for a Yankee game in April from one of the same outlets:

http://www.ticketliquidator.com/tix/tickets.aspx?evtid=2175312

GRANSTAND 2 13 4 left $703.00
FIELD BOX 7 E 2 left $776.00
Seller's Note: Tickets will be ready for delivery by Mar 28, 2014.
RFB 94 GG 2 left $776.00
Seller's Note: Tickets will be ready for delivery by Mar 28, 2014.
RFB 94 EE 2 left $776.00
Seller's Note: Fourth row in this section. Tickets will be ready for delivery by Mar 28, 2014.
FIELD BOX 7 D 4 left $776.00
Seller's Note: Tickets will be ready for delivery by Mar 28, 2014.

OMG WTF!!!

http://www.ticketliquidator.com/tix/tickets.aspx?evtid=2175829

YANKEE STADIUM BLEACHER SEATS:

Bleacher 238
Row 21
[Preferred Seller] [SHIPS BY 04/06/2014]
Qty 2
$93899.00 OBSCENE INDEED!!! :noidea:

Cheers,

Merlot

 

[Special K]

http://espn.go.com/new-york/mlb/sto...jeter-says-2014-last-season-via-facebook-post

Red Sox ticket prices for last Jeter game skyrocket:

http://espn.go.com/boston/mlb/story...following-derek-jeter-retirement-announcement

The Red Sox really should have to give back some of that obscene money they are making on tickets on Jeter's last game. They should make the check payable to Hal or Hank.

The Red Sox ticket prices remain the same, it's the scumbag ticket agencies / brokers that screw everyone! Has nothing to do with the team. You should call Ace Ticket and ask them to give some of their profit back. Hahaha. I'm sure that'd go over well.

 

[Special K]

If Jeter had an ounce of self respect he would have hung them up after his pathetic, pitiful 2013 season!! This bullshit, farewell visit, dick sucking, gift giving "retirement" tour is typical Yankee horseshit. Mo Rivera I can accept, he's the best to ever work at his position, Jeter, yea, not so much!