Mar
20
Open Thread: TGIFR
ByMy brackets are in pretty decent shape so far, much better than the last few years. Ironically, I paid even less attention to college basketball this year than I usually do. Go figure.
Anyway, here’s your links:
- Now that they’ve been eliminated, the 2009 WBC is the first time since 1959 that Cuba has not reached the finals of an international tournament. That is a pretty amazing accomplishment. (h/t Neyer)
- Speaking of the WBC, I got my first look at the mythical beast known as Yu Darvish the other night. And you know what? The dude is filthy. RJ Anderson at Fangraphs and Harry Pavlidis at Beyond the Box Score both took a look at his start against Korea, Pitch f/x style.
- Joba’s DUI hearing was pushed back a third time.
- This one’s behind the Insider wall, but KLaw ran down the list of players who currently project as first round picks for the 2009 Draft. Right now there’s only fifteen no-doubt-about it first round talents. Last year Law said there were about twenty true first round players.
- Lots of great interviews on the netweb recently: Jason at IIATMS sat down with author Jeff Pearlman, Rays Index interviewedthe team’s principal owner Stuart Sternberg, Brandon Isleib spoke with Twin’s Director of Baseball Communications Dustin Morse, and David Laurila interviewed Shariz Rehman, the D-Backs Director of Baseball Ops. Awesome stuff all the way around.
- The inaugural RAB Fantasy Baseball League (and the Alternate League) are drafting Sunday night. I’m picking 17th (out of 20 teams), and right now I’m leaning towards Jacoby Ellsbury with my first pick. I hear he’s teh awesome. I’ll post my team early next week for you all to bask in it’s fantasy goodness laugh at.
Here’s your open thread for the night. The Isles, Devils, Knicks and Nets are all in action tonight, plus there’s a whole bunch of college basketball games going on. Today’s an off day for the WBC, the semifinals kick off tomorrow night when Korea takes on Venezuela. USA will play Japan Sunday night, and they’ve pushed Roy Oswalt up for the game Anything goes here, just be cool.
“Dear Yankees Fan:
Thank you for registering for the chance to be included in an online Pre-On-Sale Ticket purchase opportunity. Unfortunately, however, your entry was not selected. Thank you for taking the time to register and please remember that any Tickets that remain after the conclusion of all Pre-On-Sale opportunities will be available for purchase, online only, beginning Tuesday, March 24, 2009 at 10:00 am.
Thank you for participating.
On behalf of the entire Yankees organization, thank you for your continued and loyal support. Please do not hesitate to contact the Yankees Ticket Office at (718) 293-6000 if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
Go Fuck Yourself, San Diego.”
… took long enough…
I got that too…fuckers.
In communist Cuba, ball hits you!
Now that they’ve been eliminated, the 2009 WBC is the first time since 1959 that Cuba has not reached the finals of an international tournament. That is a pretty amazing accomplishment.
R.I.P. Communism, 1848-2009
correction Communism 1849-1985.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Qz74cEN5aw
We all know this is what ended it.
1987.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCtm5EbIxYo
I want the San Fransisco Giants to draft Madison Younginer so they can eventually pitch him and Madison Baumgarner on back to back days.
From KLaw:
“This draft is great if you like pitching — polished guys or high-ceiling arms — but if you’re looking for a bat, it’s slim pickings.”
http://www.instanttrombone.com
http://www.sadtrombone.com
(Damn, I’m slipping. That one applies both to me and to the Yankees draft-day desires.)
I’ve never done a keeper league. This is not going to end well.
Why does a Blonde wear condoms on her ears?
…So she wouldn’t get Hearing Aides.
So who else got rejected for singe-game ticket sales?
Me. I posted a copy of the email, but I guess it’s caught in moderation (or the Communistic Totalitarian RAB filters are blocking my dissident-flavored posts of righteous indignation.)
socialist, not communist.
Tomato, tomahto.
Me three.
Me and the 6 other people I registered. Luckily I had presale info..Im going to 19 games including both vs the Cubs and 3 Sox games. Couldn’t get opening day. Im also going to 3 in Balt and 2 in Cleveland..so Im pretty satisfied. I havent given up on opening day tho.
Give up. They’re selling for four times face value on StubHub.
I love the Yanks, I’m a die-hard fan and have been for over 30 years. But for quadruple the ticket price, I’ll skip opening day. Plus, the Yanks are giving the Cubs game for free to full season plan holders, so I’ll just go to one of those.
I agree..Im not paying stub hub prices. Im hoping somehow there are tix being held back till Tues and I get lucky or a friend comes up with one for me.
The last game in the old stadium was almost impossible to get tix for. $12 Bleacher seats STARTED at $250 on StubHub and went up from there. The first official game at the new ballpark won’t be quite as bad, but its going to be a very hot ticket.
If I were you, I’d try to get a ticket for one of the two Cubs games. It will be almost as much fun, I’m sure Sweet Lou will give the fans a tirade or two and you can probably get grandstands at face value.
I already have tix to BOTH Cubs games thru the presale.
And I got lucky for the last game, I checked stubhub daily, many many times. I ended up with 2 upper deck seats for 110 each..not great, but better than what they were going for. We grabbed 2 seats downstairs for the pregame ceremonies..the people whose seats they were showed up in the top of the 2nd (idiots). Went upstairs and by the 4th went back down and managed to find 2 empty seats.
You are sneaky.
I like that about you.
LOL..you have no idea
Hey now!
I personally plan on going to the Oakland weekday series in lieu of the pricey Cleveland weekend series.
Cheap seats are on StubHub for as low as $11.
I got tix for the Sat game vs Clev weeks ago on Stubhub. Paid $35 for $25 grandstands.
You wouldn’t happen to have one of those ‘Giambi Mustaches’ from last year, would you?
Sorry, no..I thought that was pretty ridiculous.
I do however have lots of dirt/gravel from the warning track (yes, the sneakiness knows no bounds)
I posted yesterday 25 minutes after the tickets went on sale for full season ticket holders. I could only buy seats $1000 plus and the system was so strange that you had to go all the way back to the beginning (putting in password and then the bot stop word) and try again. If I tried any section on its own I was told there were no tickets left.
I spent about 20 minutes on the site and then gave up.
Every other year I would just go straight for the cheap seats and pick up a bunch. This year it wouldn’t do it. And I was on the site the MINUTE it opened for single seats.
So was I..and had no trouble with weekday games, weekends were another story. I put grandstand in right off the bat and was able to get tix.
Assuming Swisher starts in RF. How would the Yankees’ defense stack up against the rest of the AL East?
Well, the OF defense–Damon/Gardner/Swisher–would be among the best in the league. The infield defense is hard to predict. Ransom’s going to have a much larger sample size, Jeter will probably be below average, Cano is up and down, Tex is solid…I don’t know. Putting them together, I’d say the Yankees will be an average to slightly above average defensive team in ‘09.
Baltimore will have the best OF, followed by Tampa, the Yankees, Boston, and Toronto.
For the infield the best is Tampa, Boston, Toronto, Yankees, and the Orioles.
However, overall the Yankees are still above average defensively.
Actually for IF it should be Boston, Toronto, Tampa, Yankees, and Orioles. I thought Pena and Bartlett would have higher UZR than they do.
I’d say:
Outfield:
1-Rays
2a.-Orioles
2b.-Yankees
4-Red Sox
5-Jays
Infield/C:
1-Red Sox
2-Jays
3a-Yankees
3b-Rays
5-Orioles
OF wise? The Yankees would probably stack up third behind the Orioles (first) and the Rays (second). The edge goes to the Orioles in only a provisional sense because it depends on if Felix Pie is the everyday left fielder, and because Gabe Gross will not be the everyday right fielder for the Rays. The only reason the Blue Jays rank fourth – and not fifth – is because Adam Lind has had polar opposite seasons in the field over the past two years(not to mention the fact that Alex Rios should probably be playing CF over Vernon Wells). The Red Sox rank last in outfield defense because they are the only quad that sends out a horrid defender out there in Jason Bay.
So, to rank ‘em in terms of OF defense:
1. Orioles
2. Rays
3. Yankees
4. Blue Jays
5. Red Sox
So quick fantasy question. I managed to get both Mauer and Wieters as my catchers. I was psyched. Except now, it seems that Andy McPhail is a tight wad and won’t start Wieters and Mauer will not be ready for opening day. Do I drop Wieters to pick up a catcher that will, you know, play in April, or suck it up and not play a catcher for a bit?
if its a keeper league stick with Wieters. If not Wieters won’t be up for a while anyway, might as well drop him
A replacement-level catcher for one month + Matt Wieters for five months >>> Than the vast majority of starting catchers in MLB.
I got Doumit and Napoli on one team. I hope Scoscia breaks out of his stupidity and gives Napoli the lion’s share of the ABs.
I have the same tandem and Jorge Posada in my two-catcher league.
I have Posada and Teagarden in another league. My final draft is on Sunday, it’s a keeper and I elected to keep Manny/Hamels/Cano/BJ Upton. My team finished 12/12 last season.
As a temp replacement: J. Kendall or D. Navarro? I like Navarro a bit more, but the pitching is going to be tough in the AL East.
You LOVE the Wang.
(Did you hear that shit? I said you LOVE the Wang. I gotta be the craftiest motherf#$%#er alive!!!)
And might I add…that’s one fine looking boy you have there!
Oh! Thanks! That’s ’cause he’s from my sperm. See, I knocked up this hot lady friend of ours I bang on the side, so not to be totally gay. But my tubby husband here….he LOVES THE COCK!
I love to Wang Chung tonight.
That’s even craftiest-er…and stuff.
You wanna see crafty?
http://riveraveblues.com/2009/.....ent-306965
Rank the starting rotations in the AL east
Red Sox
1.) Beckett
2.) Dice K
3.) Lester
4.) Wakefield
5.) Penny/Smoltz
Tampa Bay
1.) Kazmir
2.) Shields
3.) Garza
4.) Price
5.) Sonnanstine
Yankees
1.) Sabathia
2.) Wang
3.) Burnett
4.) Chamberlain
5.) Pettitte
I think we can all agree Toronto is #4 and Baltimore is #5. But what I’m really interested in are the 3 contenders. Toronto could possibly be higher, they led the league in fewest Runs Allowed last year. But with the losses of Burnett, Marcum and McGowan, its hard to argue for them.
1-Yankees
2t.-Tampa
3t.-Boston
4-Toronto
5-Baltimore
That’s mine. The Yanks have 3 guys with top of the rotation stuff (CC, AJ, Joba) and Wang might be the best 4th option in Baseball. I think Andy will be solid, people seem to forget that there were questions about him holding up going into ST last year because he wasn’t able to keep up with his off season conditioning program due to all the Clemens bullshit.
The Red Sox may still have the best pitcher of the 3 teams in Beckett, but he was shut down for a month last year and you wonder when the shoulder that the Sox were so worried about (when they saw his medicals after they traded for him in 05) is going to go. The one Gammons said was described to him as “chopmeat”. But until he visits Dr Andrews, you have to assume he’ll be great. Dice-K is another story, he can’t keep walking 5/9IP and succeed in MLB, and his walk rate wasn’t much better in 07 (4/9IP). Lester is terrific, but after him its a mess. Who knows what Wakefield gives you anymore and I have no idea what they were thinking with Penny. He was horrendous last year with LA and has a bad shoulder, which hasn’t been operated on yet. They’re going to get smacked around a lot every 4th and 5th day, and their bullpen is still thin in the middle.
Tampa figures to be outstanding top to bottom, and Price may be the best pitcher on the staff. Given that it will be his first full season in the bigs, its tough to expect him to dominate right away. Kazmir is very good, Shields is the most complete pitcher they have, Garza can be as good as his maturity allows him to be. Sonnanstine is a nice #5, and they have good depth backing him up.
The Red Sox may still have the best pitcher of the 3 teams in Beckett
you completely misspelled “Yankees” “definitely” and “Sabathia”
Sabathia >> Beckett
Heh. Definitely, Sabathia is much better than Beckett.
Best pitchers in the East are probably:
Sabathia
Lester
Then it’s tough.
Halladay
1. Tampa
2. NY
3. Boston
I honestly think the Yanks have the best rotation in baseball, its freaking ridiculous. 4 of our pitchers can be lights out on any given day, and good old Pettitte is a reliable vet. Plus we having Hughes/Kennedy waiting in the minors gives us very good depth (mostly provided by Hughes, Kennedy…not so much).
Question: If Joba actually ends up having to do, say, 3 days in jail like Charles Barkley did, would he then become the first Yankee ever to be gritty?
I mean, if missing games midseason to go to the clink isn’t gritty, what is?
Wasn’t Rizzuto gritty/scrappy?
Barkley’s case was . . . . shall we say ‘altered’ by the fact that he offered to have the cop’s name “Tattooed on my ass”.
The rest of the story we won’t even get into, lest we offend Mike Pop.
Why would he offer to have the cop’s name tattooed on your ass, Artist?
I have no idea, but he did.
http://www.azcentral.com/commu.....31-ON.html
Duh, I misread what you wrote. And what I wrote. I need some sleep.
Hey so not to be a Debbie Downer but…is it possible we’re overrated Tex on defense? 3 of the last 4 years he’s posted -UZR/150 tallies–though last year was pretty kick ass (9.4 UZR/150 and he was +24, leading the Majors).
First Tennessee, Utah State, West Virginia, now possibly Portland State and Utah… my bracket is crashing and burning just like Brad Penny, J.D. Drew, Freddy Garcia and Tim Redding.
Hey guys I just finished my draft, personally I think I did terrible. It’s a 12 team league and I missed my first 2 picks so they were auto. What do you think?
Line-UP
C Ryan Doumit
1B Ryan Howard
2B Dustin Pedroia
3B Mark Reynolds
SS Derek Jeter
OF Carl Crawford
OF Michael Young
OF Matt Kemp
UT Jim Thome
Pitchers
Phillies
Bench
OF Justin Upton
OF David Dejesus
C Ramon Hernandez
1B James Loney
2B Kelley Johnson
That’s not too bad–you’ve just gotta worry about Philly’s bullpen sans-Romero and coming back down to earth.
Ok also I forgot to add in I have the Mariners pitching staff on my bench also I was half way into the draft and I forgot to get pitchers.
Losing by 28 points against the Sacramento Kings at home…
Ugh.
Jamal, love the comment on Klaw’s facebook!
Someone care to grade my team? Just want to see what other people think.
12 man league.
(stats include: R, HR, RBI, SB, BB, TB, AVG; IP, W, SV, K, HLD, ERA, WHIP)
C- Russel Martin
1B- Mark Teixeira
2B- Brandon Phillips
SS- Stephen Drew
3B- Adrian Beltre
OF- Rick Ankiel
OF- Ryan Ludwick
OF- Jason Bay
Util- Hideki Matsui
BN- T. Teagaarden
BN- Edwin Encarnacion
SP- Tim Lincecum
SP- Josh Beckett
RP- Brad Lidge
RP- George Sherrill
P- Ubaldo Jimenez
P- Justin Verlander
P- David Price
BN- Chris Carpenter
BN- Brandon Morrow
BN- Damaso Marte (holds are counted)
That team look really good with the only real weak spot being the OF. I’d personally try to trade Ludwick for a better bet in the OF (maybe include Beltre, EE, or even Phillips since he will be weak for BB). But overall looks solid.
I have read in several places that this is the first time since 1959 that Cuba has not reached the finals of an international tournament. That’s not accurate.
Cuba finished in 4th place in 1959 Pan American Games behind Venezuela, Puerto Rico y USA.
Also Cuba finished 4th in 1962 Central American and Caribbean Games, this time behind Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Mexico.