A.L. Central Smack Talk 2014

[Cleaves2000]

One good thing about the tigers slump....it got this thread going.....was boring when detroit was 27-12.....now its getting interesting in here....even got guys or should i say "pretty face guys" doing spell check....

You know its getting bad when someone turns to spell check or talking about the city instead of the team....i guess thats all they have.....how bout them yanks?

 

[Cleaves2000]

 

[CSD]

One good thing about the tigers slump....it got this thread going.....was boring when detroit was 27-12.....now its getting interesting in here....even got guys or should i say "pretty face guys" doing spell check....

You know its getting bad when someone turns to spell check or talking about the city instead of the team....i guess thats all they have.....how bout them yanks?

This thread has improved leaps and bounds since my arrival. We have everything from spell check, witty responses, and enough smack talk to get under people's skin.

In other news, KC has lost 4 straight and show they're nothing more than a bunch of pretenders.

 

[dougplayer]

spicy chicken. mmmmmmmmm was good. I had a pack of porterhouse steaks. but didn't cook one. had to celebrat right!

 

[dougplayer]

This thread has improved leaps and bounds since my arrival. We have everything from spell check, witty responses, and enough smack talk to get under people's skin.

In other news, KC has lost 4 straight and show they're nothing more than a bunch of pretenders.

Yankees lose again. but whos counting

 

[CSD]

doug, one picture comes to my mind every time I read your posts.

 

[da55bums]

You tag teaming up with iffy was hard for me to get past Bums. But I did, and my SportsHoopla experience is better for it.

Iffy? isn't he a Tigers fan? If you thought I tag teamed with anyone, sorry you thought that, I am pretty sure I screw up enough on my own, tag teaming has never been my thing, but to quote one of my favorite lines "If thats what did it for me, I would be the luckiest man in the world"

 

[da55bums]

What kind of hungry man doufie? Not sure why that interests me but it does. The Tigers are still going to win the division but watch out for my Twins maybe we are buyers at the deadline.

Crazy stat, the Twins have played 2 more games than have the Tigers and have only allowed 11 more runs...

That signing of Morales is going to put them in it, just a brilliant signing...if they are close at the deadline, they could be major buyers.

 

[da55bums]

You got to have heart to eat this one.

now that is spot on Dougie, great pic

 

[Howie115]

You got to have heart to eat this one.

Ahh, I see it's the (Joe) Nathan's Famous Meatballs.

 

[mr.hockey4242]

Twins 4 game sweep the sox!!!

 

[Pete Def]

spicy chicken. mmmmmmmmm was good. I had a pack of porterhouse steaks. but didn't cook one. had to celebrat right!

i don't really post. I usually just read the threads for news and humor, but i had to respond to this. having a hungry man instead of a nice porterhouse is celebrating right?? what am I missing here?

 

[Fountain City Blues]

Royals will be fine...

 

[Fountain City Blues]

Enjoy your team guy... I am sure that in OCT you will be around trolling tigers playoff games and holding your breath after every playoff win hoping that this year the Tigers don't win it all... Because we all know the Royals won't be on tv unless they are in some kind of charity fund raiser.

I recognize this style...

Quite familiar, in fact.

 

[Fountain City Blues]

The Royals starters are good? Outside of a solid 10 game stretch... the only reason you are sniffing the division lead is because the Tigers slumped for a month... over 162 games nobody expects the likes of Vargas, Guthrie, Shields, Duffy, and Ventura to perform better than Verlander, Scherzer, Sanchez, Porcello, and Smyly.

And your team will be lucky to have even one guy bat over .300... meaning if the royals rotation doesn't keep defying the odds... the team will fall... because your team doesn't score enough runs to get through bad pitching... Vargas and Guthrie both will be lucky to have era under 4 by Aug judging by their careers... and Shields is not looking so hot lately... Duffy and Ventura will not even be able to pitch more than 180 innings... probably less... Who might I ask will be the 4th and 5th starters in Sept? Oh wait... you probably haven't thought about that after the celebration for being in first for 48 hours in june.

Excuses. You thought 27-12 was more indicative?



The reason the team ERA won't regress much is a world class defense. In other words, the ERA is fine, the peripherals are above average, but not awesome. They are 13th in fWAR right now for starters.

The Innings limit is a discussion for when they approach that. They could just ditch it if they felt they need the two for the playoffs for example. If they felt like trading for a Sarmardzija, they would.

Your lack of baseball knowledge is showing quite a bit when one assumes Vargas will have an ERA over 4 by the end of the year when you don't even consider what he is playing behind.

Who gives a damn about average by itself anymore? I care about OBP, wOBA, OPS+, and Wrc+. If you are going to diss KC's offense, you should probably not be a BA freak because they are 5th in BA. So, who cares if someone doesn't bat .300? Occasional power, excellent speed, and a lot of doubles works. They just can't be historically bad power wise...

The Royals rotation has not outperformed the Tigers rotation, that is just delusional if you actually watch them pitch for any length of time. They just have an obnoxious defense behind them that suppresses the ERA's of the starters in a very, very noticeable way for the most part.

UZR:

1 KC- 42.2
2 A's- 23.5

And we aren't even halfway through the season yet.

On the other hand, Verlander's decline is pretty obvious at this point. And if you want to throw Ventura and Duffy IP concerns at me... When the hell has Smyly been effective after 140-150 IP? Scherzer isn't going to be the guy from 2013 again. Seems like the Tigers rotation, while still solid, is no where even remotely close to where it was last year.


Sorry for the paragraph salad there. Points still stand though.

 

[Fountain City Blues]

Duffy however, is a far more interesting discussion/argument due to his babip which has been fueled by being 2nd in flyball percentage with a low HR/FB % to go with it to further the run suppression. To compound the situation, the aforementioned defense is around to take away some balls that would normally raise a pitcher's babip.

 

[MiamiVice]

Your lack of baseball knowledge is showing quite a bit when one assumes Vargas will have an ERA over 4 by the end of the year when you don't even consider what he is playing behind.

Who gives a damn about average by itself anymore? I care about OBP, wOBA, OPS+, and Wrc+. If you are going to diss KC's offense, you should probably not be a BA freak because they are 5th in BA. So, who cares if someone doesn't bat .300? Occasional power, excellent speed, and a lot of doubles works. They just can't be historically bad power wise...

Vargas played in a stadium in Seattle that played defense by itself.. on a team with good outfielders... and what was his era for his career there? Saying a guy with a 8 yr career era over 4 is going to end the season with an era over 4 is showing lack of knowledge?

The issue in KC on offense isnt just BA... its that there is no power threat at all... as you are 25th in hr in the mlb... and your ability to score runs is totally lacking outside of your 10 game miracle run.

 

[Fountain City Blues]

Vargas played in a stadium in Seattle that played defense by itself.. on a team with good outfielders... and what was his era for his career there? Saying a guy with a 8 yr career era over 4 is going to end the season with an era over 4 is showing lack of knowledge?

The issue in KC on offense isnt just BA... its that there is no power threat at all... as you are 25th in hr in the mlb... and your ability to score runs is totally lacking outside of your 10 game miracle run.

2009-2012 UZR/150 for the M's: 4.4

2014 Royals: 18.4

Not even remotely close.

 

[Fountain City Blues]

Vargas played in a stadium in Seattle that played defense by itself.. on a team with good outfielders... and what was his era for his career there? Saying a guy with a 8 yr career era over 4 is going to end the season with an era over 4 is showing lack of knowledge?

The issue in KC on offense isnt just BA... its that there is no power threat at all... as you are 25th in hr in the mlb... and your ability to score runs is totally lacking outside of your 10 game miracle run.

BA is not even close to a problem for most of the team outside of Moustakas, Hosmer, and arguably Butler. Again, they are 5th in the league in average as a team.

5th in BA

6th in doubles....

4th in SB

T-29th in HR's.

Again, if they aren't historically inept in the HR department, they will be competent enough to win games.

Butler and Hosmer won't have near sub 100 ISO's forever. I'll just take my sweet time and wait. If it doesn't happen, oh well, but I can't be blamed for expecting it to swing the other way at some point.

 

[da55bums]

please stop quoting the clown so I can read the garbage, He must have got kicked out the Tigers board and wanted somewhere to spout. When Tigers fans get tired of him, thats saying something since its all Tigers hype he produces.

Yes a team usually takes a lead when another team slumps...thats really the only way it happens, EVERY time.

Nobody expected the Royals starters to perform better than the TIgers starters for over 70 games either.

The Royals pitching seem to be defying the odds for 230 games, Verlander is much more someone to worry about than Shields

Sanchez has made it over 182 innings 3 out of 9 seasons in the majors, if facts matter to you.
Smyly is in the same boat as Ventura/Duffy

Said Santana was a joke, he was one of the top pitchers in the majors last year.
Saying Vargas is a joke, just means Vargas will have good to great year, I am cool with that.
You said last year Porcello is one of the best pitchers in the majors, lol...
You say Smyly is better than Ventura and/or Duffy...
Let me guess you loved Reed too before 10 straight outings of sucking after his first 10 of decent outings. Probably got excited over the 40 yr old nathan too. I think Downs and Below are still pitching better, lol

Dougie makes better predictions than you do.

We get it, all Tigers players are near the top in the league at their positions and all other teams players have issues. Because of it, the reason the Tigers are one of the greatest teams to ever be assembled, I would assume without winning a ring. Same story you keep saying, just a different year, any creditable baseball sight would agree with your insights, you should write for one, don't mind them laughing, just keep staying with your thoughts, stay strong.

KC is ranked 25th in HR's? and lacks power? nobody knew that for the last 10 years, thanks for your revelation. Why not explain the TIgers 25th ranking in ERA in June, must be bad luck, explain Verlanders .500 record and 4+ era in his last 45 starts..got it, bad luck again aka bad streak.

Take Miggy out of the tigers lineup and the Miggy effect on anyone batting behind him or in front of him and the Tigers are a very basic lineup, the tigers lineup is good because of Miggy.
Just like the lineup is dependant on Miggy, the Tigers pitching has crashed over the last 230 games because of Verlander 1st and formost.