Mar
22
Open Thread: Pics from Tampa
By
I know it’s not the best picture in the world, but Andy from Sunny Daytona sent along this shot of CC Sabathia on the mound in his minor league game this afternoon. He also sent along these shots of the infield, the umpires chatting it up at home plate, and young Jose Mojica taking a lead off first. The season can’t come soon enough.
Anyway, use this as your open thread for the night. The Devils, Rangers and Nets are all in action tonight, plus Team USA is taking on Japan in the WBC semifinals. Anything goes here, just be cool.
171 Comments»
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The Mason Williams Watch
Hey everyone, drafted another fantasy team today-have at it, let me know what you think!
C Brian McCann
1B José López
2B Alexei Ramírez
3B Chipper Jones
SS Stephen Drew
OF Ryan Ludwick
OF Jay Bruce
OF Adam Jones
BN Jorge Posada
UTIL Nick Swisher
UTIL Rick Ankiel
UTIL Felipe López
BN Mike Cameron
BN Ian Stewart
SP Tim Lincecum
SP David Price
RP Joe Nathan
RP Joey Devine
P Adam Wainwright
P Ricky Nolasco
P Gil Meche
BN Phil Coke
BN Aaron Cook
Probably can look to trade one those catchers, and when Alexi gets SS eligibility(if he doesn’t already) his value will go up.
How many teams/whats the scoring?
12 teams, head to head.
I want to keep both catchers for the moment in case either McCann regresses or Posada get hurts again.
i’m not sure about price adjusting so quickly.
Probably not, but I’m willing to take the risk, especially with Lincecum.
You need a first baseman.
Yeah, eventually.
However, Jose Lopez is very underrated and he has 2B eligibility… nice trade bait
Assuming a standard 5×5, it looks weak at first, OF, and SP. Also you may be weak in saves, if Devine doesn’t close over Ziegler.
weak in saves, even with Nathan?
1B wis a loaded position so I’m not entirely worried about that. May try to trade for better OF.
For saves it really matters how many save opps Devine gets. You’ll probably be able to find someone else on waivers during the season if needed or possibly now like Lyons or Motte.
Also, never mind about the weak SP, the more I look at it the more I like it.
Oh I know my SP is good…
Very good pick on Nolasco. He’s solid.
Yeah, that’s what I heard. BP is amazing.
After the All-Star break, Nolasco posted a 3.12 ERA in 109.2 innings while striking out 113 and walking only 13.
Which kind of amuses me because I took him in about the 10th round.
Watching USC the past couple weeks it makes sense why they gave Lil’ Romeo a scholarship to make sure to get DeRozan
Is there any word if De Leon or Urena come stateside this year?
The presale code for tomorrow is going for $40 on Ebay.
Creative. But whatever tix the Yanks have will still sell out in the first few minutes, so it doesn’t guarantee you much.
That’s awesome. I might break down and go bid.
Actually it’s Tues, not tomorrow.
Thats a great freaking idea.
I know, I should have sold mine.
So how about Syracuse today?!
SWEET 16 BABY!
Six. Fucking. Overtimes. I called my two friends at ‘Cuse after the game and told them I hate them and their school.
And damn it, Marquette! I had them winning vs. Mizzou.
Mizzou is in my final four. My brackets are totally busted but my final four is intact.
Same with me. If I can keep the final four intact then I still have a chance!
If only they could look as good as UConn while doing it.
Win is a win as a win.
That’s hard to do, Thomas.
Unless, of course, it’s the UConn Women’s team. Speaking of which, I had to run to the Co-Op today and like…85% of the people walking into Gampel were elderly. Older people LOVE women’s basketball.
I was at the game. They were frickin’ amazing. We move up to the second row with like 10 minutes left, it was like switching from regular TV to HD.
The Rangers take an early 1-0 lead on a goal by Dubinsky, who hadn’t score in like forever. Maybe he can get on a little streak.
I dragged my husband to Tampa last weekend for Spring Training and he took these pictures. Speaking of pics from Tampa.
http://www.associatedcontent.c....._2009.html
Enjoy!
Hmph. He just informed me that is only a small subset of all the pictures
I made him takehe took. Here is all of them: http://gallery.millerworks.net.....6233_SFNcvThose pictures came out really well.
Here I am ready to relax and watch the WBC and ESPN ruins my night by having Morgan & Miller on.
And Steve Phillips.
Wow, great pitch Dice-K.
I know I’m in the minority, but I love Morgan and Miller. I know Morgan says some things that drive you nuts and I find myself shaking my head from time to time, but nobody is better at putting you in the game and explaining situational Baseball. No announcer is perfect, and he has glaring strengths and glaring weaknesses. Like most of the rest of us.
And Jon Miller (as the old saying goes) I could listen to him read the phone book. They seem to have a good time together and don’t intrude on the game too much, which is generally my biggest complaint about announcers like McCarver/Gary Cohen. Both of whom I can’t listen to.
Brian Roberts just said “Oh PEACE, Dice-K!”
I’d love to watch this game in Spanish, but apparently my SAP button isn’t working correctly.
Two words: Mute. Button.
It also fun to add in your own commentating when the game is on mute, particularly when they show the announcers.
Mark DeRosa can’t remember starting any games at 1B?
How about one in 2006 and five in 2007? LOL!
Why didn’t Johnson just start Dunn (127 games) at first and put DeRosa (125 games) in the outfield…?
I’m going to assume that DeRosa is the better defensive 1B, since Dunn is pretty bad.
UZR/150 @ 1B:
DeRosa: -21.4
Dunn: -11.3
UZR/150 @ OF:
DeRosa: 14.4
Dunn: -12.6
68 innings isn’t enough of a sample size for UZR, given that at the other 3 infield positions hes at -5 to -6 thats probably what he’d do at first.
Even so, Dunn has more experience there and DeRosa’s much better in the OF. Why not just switch ‘em?
What the hell is UZR? The only way to tell defense is by using your eyes! jk
It stand for “Uncle Zack’s Rating”.
Uncle Zack knows a gritty, gutty ballplayer when he sees one.
Scratch that–DeRosa’s got a ton of OF experience. Good job, Johnson…
10 team, head to head league. 18 categories, 10 are offensive, so I loaded up on hitters. Jorge was there in the 20th round, Matsui in the 23rd, so it was worth the risk on them coming back from injuries. Looking for a few young guys to break out, and hoping A-Rod comes back strong (16th pick overall). Hated taking Holliday, but it was 3rd round.
C-Posada
1b-Sandoval
2b-Uggla
3b-Cabrera
SS-Hardy
CI-Dunn
MI-Aviles
OF-Holliday
OF-Markakis
OF-Ichiro
OF-Upton
UTIL-Bradley
BN-A-Rod
BN-Bruce
BN-Wieters
BN-Milledge
BN-H. Matsui
SP-Bedard
SP-Unit
RP-Wood
RP-M. Gonzalez
P-Devine
P-Lilly
Damn nice set of bats, even with the focus on hitting stats, probably need to trade some of the offense for some pitching
I don’t think I’d trade for starters, there’s still a ton of good starters on waivers. And I never pay for saves, there’s so many guys that lose their jobs thru performance or injury that it’s too risky for me. Won my league last year with Sherril/Ziegler/Wood as closers. Wood was the only one I drafted, and it was last 2 or 3 rounds.
I like it.
Team looks very good, which especially if that is BJ Upton and I assume Miguel Cabrera. You could probably use a new pitcher, even if it is off of waivers.
Damn, Justin Upton. Hoping for a huge breakout from him though. He’ll be better than BJ soon, hopefully this year.
Not so sure about your pitching, but the bats look good
Igawa’s still on waivers! I won this league last year, same settings/cats, and I ended the year with only 1 starter that I’d drafted, and 2 relievers(last 2 rounds). The extra 2 hitting categories really swing the weights. If my whip hurts, I can easily get a Lowe or Slowey off waivers. I went high K guys with my starters with K’s and K/BB as categories, but I’m sure I’ll be picking up and waiving starters all year, riding hot streaks without worrying about cutting a high draft pick.
The RABAL draft was the strangest I’ve ever been in. The first 7 rounds were NOT snaked, which really sucked, and then after that it started snaking the order for no apparent reason. I ended up with the 14th pick (so my 2nd was #34, my 3rd was #54, etc). Considering how weird it was, and that it was 20 teams deep, I think I did all right. But who knows and really, who cares?
C – Brian McCann
1B – Carlos Delgado
2B – Dan Uggla
3B – Aubrey Huff
SS – Michael Young
OF – Curtis Granderson
OF – Mike Cameron
OF – Carlos Gomez
UTIL – Denard Span
Bench – Kosuke Fukudome
Bench – Clint Barmes
Bench – Matt LaPorta
Bench – Emmanuel Burris
Bench – Erick Hinske
SP – CC Sabathia
SP – Chien-Ming Wang
P – Fausto Carmona
P – Gavin Floyd
P – Jamie Moyer
RP – Kevin Gregg
RP – J.P. Howell
Bench – Rick Porcello
Besides getting CC as my first pick, I didn’t focus on pitchers until the 2nd half of the draft really. I plan on picking up upstart relievers when they sprout up in the beginning of the year anyway. LaPorta and Porcello are my fliers, and I did my best to get hitters that would give me at least 10+ steals.
Yeah that is what was going to happen for the regular RAB league, so it got postponed. The lack of snaking wouldn’t have hurt me (pick 3), but it definitely would have been unfair.
We were thinking about postponing it but said “meh, screw it”. It snakes by the 7th round which is really weird. ESPN = idiots.
Looks good to me for 20 teams. Hope the sinkerballers Wang and Carmona come back strong.
Yeah, I’ve got a good amount riding on Wang, he’s the 2nd overall pitcher I drafted. I’m counting on him to get a lot of wins and improve his K rate.
LaPorta could ge huge a la longoria…or a total bust like bailey.
I think LaPorta will be good though he won’t come up as early as Longoria. Bailey’s busting has to do with a sudden lack of velocity and the fact he has no idea how to pitch, I don’t see a hitting equivalent (sudden loss of power) being a problem for LaPorta.
Here’s my RABAL squad.
C – Chris Snyder
1B – Youkilis
2B – Kaz Matsui
SS – Hanley
3B – Mora
OF – Beltran
OF – Quentin
OF – Dukes
Util – Casey Blake
BN – Skip Schumacher
BN – David Murphy
BN – Matt Diaz
BN – Wladimir Balentien
SP Chad Billingsley
SP Scott Kazmir
P Ervin Santana
P Ryan Dempster
P Paul Maholm
RP Brian Wilson
RP Matt Lindstrom
Bench Todd Wellemeyer
Bench Sean Marshall
My SP may be a bit stronger than necessary for a 20 team league considering I’d like that top 4 in a 12 team league. I had never done a league that big before and I overestimated how late there would be quality hitters available (see Snyder, Matsui), I especially struggled once the draft went to snake because I had the #1 overall and had to wait 40 picks until my next selections… I still think I’ll be solid though and am looking forward to a heated RABAL competition
Joe Morgan on Rollins steal: “He got a good jump, but he picked up speed as he went along”
How does he still have a job?
Right off the bat I would say it’s because he’s a HOF, but that didn’t help Emmitt. There really is no logical explanation, unless he has compromising photos of the powers that be.
I fealz stupider lystenenyng to hem
Why do you let them bother you so much? Are they really any worse than 90% of Baseball announcers?
Robbie Cano would’ve eatin those balls up.
Watching the WBC game and when they were showing the guy from Japan it looked like CC was sitting in front of him. Had a Yankee hat on and looked real big. haha if anyone else is watching the game let me know what you think.
i waw thinking the same thing
Damn, Roy Oswalt obviously hates America.
Agreed.
Thank you. You’re a great American.
Wow. You’re a great American. This nation owes you a huge debt. Now shut the fuck up and let me do my job!
This nation owes everybody a huge debt lately.
mainly China…
That’s the trouble with Chinese money. After you borrow some, 10 minutes later you’re hungry for more.
instantrimshot.com
heh.
Roy Oswalt should be deported. Or chased by an angry mob.
Roy Oswalt should be deported. Or chased by an angry mob.
Fixed
. . . . . . .
Roy Oswalt should be deported . Or chased by an angry mob.
Fixed my fix
Fixed
DAMN YOU HTML!!!!!!!!!!!!
I was trying to strike through “or chased” to leave “Roy Oswalt should be deported by an angry mob.”
Mike R. : Fail at Life
http://www.sadtrombone.com/
Hahahahahahaha!
You know, that was funnier than anything you would have written correctly the first time.
You win.
Keep working at it. Perseverance is a virtue.
That was a shot at Oswalt.
He should be shot by a firing squad. Isn’t that the punishment for Treason?
Oh my fricking lord pitching in RTTH is so effing frustrating.
I know. Even in spring training, pitching is evil. On my pitcher’s bad days it is sometimes a better strategy to pitch down the middle and let his “D” control take over. It is like throwing a 95 mph knuckleball.
Does it get easier when you’re pitching in Trenton or whatever minor league team yo go to? The pro’s are fouling everything off and getting all these dink and dunk hits, drivin me crazy.
Well, I’m still in Spring Training in ’09, but it did get easier in ’08.
They get those stupid little dink hits because your H/9 is so low. You’ll dominate the minors
Ahh ok thanks I was wondering why it was so hard. This game is pretty sweet.
easier pitching to hitters yeah, but then again your defense thats behind you is horrible, so it balances out. Plus when you’re down in Trenton your stuff isn’t that great either which is why you’re there to begin with.
Posada’s defense blows too. I can’t even throw the curve because he refuses to catch it.
Ichiro has stunk in the WBC.
Japanese players never pan out.
Ichiro:Bust
Compared to… dare I say it? Jeter?
That’s a shot at Jeter.
That was outside WTF
Umpires in midseason form. Jackasses.
I just love the replays of Dice-K’s strikeouts with the strike zone showing. He got like 3 called strikeouts at least 2 ball-widths out of the zone
D. Wright got robbed!
So when is Brazil going to field a team in this WBC?
BTW-What the weather like down there? It was like 48 today in New York City.
Eastbound and Down Season Finale tonight!!! Who will be watching Kenny Powers get his arm back??
give me that filet-o-fish, give me that fish!
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!
What if it were you hanging up on that wall?
you wouldn’t be laughing at aaaaaalllllllll
Probably the least enjoyably part of the last 4 days of tourney games! That commercial, and the Taco Bell pregnant woman nacho commercials… got old realllll fast, especially when you sit in front of the TV for 10 hours straight
http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/s.....038;ATT=49
Interesting new article from Rosenthal. I get excited about the first part, scouts buzzing about Pena and Nunez.
Then, I realize that scouts can often be idiots, hence the B-Jobber who hasn’t paid any attention to Joba as a starter.
“Will they hit?
“Their offense will not keep them from playing — they have at least survivor skills with the bat,” the scout says. “I enjoy watching them. They’re exciting players. They bring a lot of energy.”
Right, I don’t doubt Pena will be a nice backup for somebody, maybe even the Yanks. But to START on the Yanks, you need to be above league average with the bat, especially up the middle. Cash knows carrying good bats up the middle gives him flexibility elsewhere.
My guess is the 2011 SS will be JJ Hardy. He’s an arb guy with 4 years service, so the timing works out pretty well. Jeter plays another 2 years at SS and then moves to LF. That also means we don’t sign Holliday this off season.
Isn’t Stephen Drew a FA the same season barring an extension? Which he won’t sign because of Scotty B.
His contract is up after THIS year. That means that if the D-Backs fall out of it, they might deal him at the deadline, and/or Jeter would have to move off SS next year, which I dont think will happen.
He’s a real good player, but I think the timing doesn’t work.
That’s the deal he signed when he was drafted. He won’t be a free agent until after the 2012 season because he doesn’t have enough service time.
Heh, disregard my comment below. Thought so, just didn’t seem right to me.
I hate that rule.
Gotcha. Even with that being the case, I think the timing still doesn’t work. The Yanks will want to move Jeter off SS sometime around when his deal is up, which is after next year. That’s the perfect time to deal with it, and where he plays gets factored into the contract negotiations. So I think they’d be looking to deal with this next year at the earliest, or after 2010. Which is when Hardy becomes a FA.
BTW-Hardy isn’t a Boras guy, so its possible the Brewers lock him up.
Wow, I had no idea his was up this soon. MLBTR does not have him as a FA. Put JEter in left, there is the successor.
Stephen Drew? Really? No plate discipline and a -12.3 UZR/150 for his career? Eh…
The reasoning is just terrible, he’s been a starter his entire career
I gave credence to the article until I scrolled down to Joba. Did that guy watch last year? Joba didn’t have to throttle back at all.
In my heart of hearts, I think you’re a fucking idiot.
“In my heart of hearts, I think he’s a bullpen guy”
This is “evidence”?
Yep. It is. And it certainly outweighs the 11/1 K/BB Joba’s posted so far in 10.1 innings.
You read PAs questions for Joba?
One of his favorite shows is “MAN vs FOOD”. I thought that was hilarious, and might explain why he was 290 pounds in college.
BTW Jamal, loved the post on Klaw’s facebook the other night. I’m sure you had some people googling the legend of Melvin Crousset.
[...] skills with the bat.” Survivor skills with the bat? Who does that remind you of? (h/t Steve H) Posted on Sunday, March 22nd, 2009 at 10:16 pm in Asides, Minors. RSS feed | Trackback [...]
Story telling rather than calling the game. This must be the WBC.
So this game just got exciting.
U!!! S!!! A!!!
you’d think by now we’d come up with something more creative…
Like…America! FUCK YEAH!
Though I don’t think that’s a very family friendly chant…
Wow, they have Darvish up in the pen.
WTF davey johnson
Please don’t tell me you think he should have used Victorino there instead of Longoria.
Absolutely, Victorino makes a living out of putting the ball in play. I understand Longoria is the power guy but its the 8th inning and Longoria is hitting 0 in the WBC, he just flew across the country. Besides the fact it was righty on righty.
These guys make cross country flights and play the next day all the time.
Victorino vs RHP: .298-.355-.407
Longoria vs RHP: .284-.350-.540
Those two split fingers were just disgusting. It’s a minor miracle that he managed to hold up on the first one.
Good splits, but still Victorino is hitting well in the WBC. Obviously it’s monday morning quarterbacking but I think Victorino would of given us a fly ball or at least contact.
BTW that guy had sick movement on all his pitches!
Yeah, WTF. Jimmy Rollins should be playing SS, not Jeter.
Agreed, unfortunately. With that in mind I think our best lineup leaves Jetes on the bench.
Roberts 2nd
Granderson center
Rollins ss
Wright 3rd
Dunn dh
Braun Left
Mccann C
Derosa 1st, wtf dont we have a first baseman
Victorino right
I’d try to get Rollins/Wright as many at bats as I could and take Granderson down to the 9 hole. Other than that, I’m with you.
C’mon Jetes.
Why isn’t Rollins playing short again?
Oh Jeter.
So, it looks like tomorrow’s game will be Dokdo vs Takeshima.
Sheesh, Ichiro hit that one off his shoe strings.
WTF was that Adam Dunn?
Wouldn’t team USA be better off with Rollins playing SS and Longoria DHing??
They’d be better with Rollins at SS, Longoria at 3B and Wright DH’ing.
You want to leave Dunn out in the field or on the bench?
Bench.
Longoria probably should’ve made the original roster anyway..
Longoria or Dunn yes.
How do you think Jeter will do this season? Another down year or a bounce back campain?
assuming better health, I’d expect a minor bounce back with the bat and I pray that he won’t “revert to form” on his defense ( he was actually decent last year)
I wouldn’t be surprised if they let Darvish pitch tomorrow too. Provided he doesn’t reach 30 pitches tonight.
USA=BUST
Darvish is nasty.
Adam Dunn hates America.
and baseball!!!111!!!
- JP Ricciardi
anyone else hate the new show? i mean all the graphics things are cool. but jesus h christ they changed up the physics completely. and the comp always seems to come back.
it makes me wanna throw the controller through the wall.
ahhh!! andrew!
i was andrew first!!