tOfficial 2014 MLB Ongoing Thread

[hokiehi21]

So the Reds go into SF and sweep a 4-game series, then go and get swept by the Padres. I LOVE baseball.

 

[HammerDown]

So the Reds go into SF and sweep a 4-game series, then go and get swept by the Padres. I LOVE baseball.

I could have never wished for better!

Speaking of wishing...

 

[HammerDown]

 

[navamind]

Grandy has a higher OPS+ this year (118) than he did in 2012 (115), when he hit 43 home runs.

Grandy's also batting .275/.387/.500 (153 wRC+) since May 1.

 

[jeffro151]

LOL , post game yesterday, Lackey was asked about Nelson Cruz's 5 hit game. Lackey says he has no comment and that everyone has conveniently forgot about Cruz's PED use last year. Lackey's shitty self conveniently forgets about his own teammate Ortiz's past PED use. Speaking of morals, Id rank leaving your wife while she is battling cancer as much worse than cheating in a game.

 

[HammerDown]

Too little, too late for the Yankees. Glad to see this guy leave the division though.

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

[MEDIA=twitter]485804826853273600[/MEDIA]

Too little, too late for the Yankees. Glad to see this guy leave the division though.

They're 3.5 back in the division, the Jays are sliding fast and the Yanks have a 3-gamer with Baltimore before the ASG. Not too late at all. The O's upcoming schedule is murder, too (west coaster through Oakland, Anaheim and Seattle, followed by hosting the Angels, M's and Cards with a 3 gamer in Toronto sandwiched in).

 

[navamind]

I think that could end up being a pretty good steal for the Yanks. McCarthy's peripherals (about league average K/9, very low BB/9, high groundball rate, and very good FIP/xFIP numbers) suggest there's a lot of room for improvement for him.

At worst, he's an upgrade over Nuno.

 

[HammerDown]

 

[navamind]

Colby Lewis must have fucked Ron Washington's daughter or something. Washington doesn't pull him until after Lewis gave up his 13th run of the game on 13 hits.

 

[hokiehi21]

why is Edwin Jackson still on a big league roster

 

[Sportsguy9695]

Bud Selig & Players Association to end smokeless tobacco use

As the recent death of Tony Gwynn to salivary gland cancer continues to resonate in baseball circles, commissioner Bud Selig and Players Association executive director Tony Clark both want MLB to make strides toward reducing and ultimately eliminating the use of smokeless tobacco in the game. But it remains to be seen if they can find the necessary common ground to make that goal a reality.

While Selig expects the subject to be part of negotiations toward a new labor agreement over the next two years, Clark on Tuesday expressed the hope that smokeless tobacco use among players will diminish through greater efforts to educate players on the health hazards. Clark said the union is open to discussing the issue in labor talks, but wants the use of smokeless tobacco to remain a matter of individual choice and does not advocate an outright ban.

"We believe the numbers suggest that usage has declined significantly," Clark said. "It's declined in the minor leagues and the major leagues. Our hope is that we can continue to educate guys on the damage that dipping can do and they will continue to decide not to dip and chew.

Source: ESPN

 

[hokiehi21]

Yawwwn. Sure could use some MLB tonight, or tomorrow, or both.

 

[Sportsguy9695]

Anthony Rendon says he doesn't watch baseball on TV, claims its 'too long and boring'

Anthony Rendon, one of the biggest snubs from this year's Midsummer Classic, evidently isn't too disappointed about spending the All-Star break at home.

The Washington Nationals star infielder said he didn't even watch Tuesday's All-Star Game.

"I don't watch baseball (on television) -- it's too long and boring," Rendon said in a recent interview with the Washington Post.

Rendon, who is enjoying a breakthrough season, told the Post that he rarely watches baseball and prefers networks like the History Channel.

The 24-year-old Rendon also told the newspaper that he does not talk about baseball when he visits his family during his time off. He said before the All-Star break that he was looking forward to four days of rest from baseball.

Source: ESPN

 

[tlance]

This is not exactly the type of attitude you want from a budding star. If playing baseball is such a chore for him, then he is unlikely to maximize his potential. The love for the game is a vital motivator for players to get better.

 

[HammerDown]

So much for the Padres game I've been looking forward to all day.

 

[navamind]

GM Andy Milovich of Myrtle Beach Pelicans offers to get prostate exam during game - ESPN

 

[tabascojet]

good god just when i thought wilson couldnt get any freakier looking....

 

[navamind]

Kole Calhoun's pretty good.

 

[Loneranger]

The Astros and the #1 pick they lost

This isn't getting as much attn. as it should IMO. This is quite a story that goes much deeper than the 'Stros not signing this kid. Someone somewhere is bullshitting about something. the Aiken kid is one thing , the way it impacted the other 2 kids they drafted is something else. It's quite a story that is not over yet. This will be interesting to watch. For the 'Stros it simply looks ridiculous for a team that has defined failure for far too long.

"Did the Astros really lose 17-year-old left-hander Brady Aiken, the No. 1 overall pick in the First-Year Player Draft, over $1.5 million? Here's hoping they understand how bad that looks. Let's get some perspective on what $1.5 million means in the larger scheme of a baseball team's budget.
First, there's reliever Jesse Crain. The Astros signed him last winter for $3.25 million. He has spent the entire season on the disabled list. The Astros also signed journeymen relievers Chad Qualls and Matt Albers last winter and are paying them a combined $5 million this season.
Nothing against those three guys, but they're not one-tenth of one percent as important to the franchise as Aiken might have been. Even on a club with baseball's lowest payroll ($45 million), the Astros didn't need to take a huge leap from their final offer of $5 million to the $6.5 million it would have taken to close the deal. The Astros just shouldn't have lost this kid over that amount of money.
Just six weeks ago, the Astros were openly and proudly comparing Aiken to Clayton Kershaw and Andy Pettitte.
"He's as advanced as any high school left-hander I've ever seen," general manager Jeff Luhnow said.
Take a moment to wrap your mind around those words. On a club that hasn't been to the postseason in nine years, a club that has averaged 108 losses the last three seasons, Aiken represented additional hope.
At a time when the Astros clearly were making progress with the arrival of youngsters George Springer and Jon Singleton, with 19-year-old shortstop Carlos Correa on the fast track, Aiken could have been part of the rebirth of an entire franchise.
To the Astros, Aiken was potentially a prototype No. 1 starter, and shortly after those pronouncements, they agreed to pay him $6.5 million. That's a ton of money for a 17-year-old kid, but it's also around $1.4 million below the $7.9 million slot price allotted for the No. 1 pick. So even at $6.5 million, the Astros were getting a bargain.
And then, when Aiken and his family flew to Houston for the big announcement, the Astros did an MRI of the kid's left elbow. Whether the Astros should have done this MRI way before Draft day is an interesting question.
There was no reason to think Aiken might be injured, because he was throwing free and easy in his final high school start, clocked by some at 97 mph. In fact, the Astros explained how often they'd seen him pitch and how much they appreciated that his workload had been closely monitored. Maybe there's no such thing as a perfect No. 1 pick, but Aiken seemed pretty close.
This is where the story gets murky. The Astros believe the MRI revealed an abnormality in the ulnar collateral ligament in Aiken's left elbow.
They apparently did not claim he was injured. They simply saw something on the MRI that prompted them to think he might be injured at some point in the future. Aiken's side emphatically disputed that anything showed up indicating he might be more susceptible to an injury. They apparently had orthopedists to support their opinion.
Anyway, the Astros backed away from the $6.5 million offer and wanted to renegotiate downward. If they'd stopped right there, they might simply have had a difference of opinion about the health of Aiken's elbow.
But the Astros did something that apparently infuriated Aiken and his advisor, Casey Close. If they could sign Aiken for, say, $5 million instead of $6.5 million, that would leave them with almost $3 million to spend on prep pitchers Jacob Nix and Mac Marshall, their fifth and 21st-round picks, respectively. To turn one slot into three players with very high ceilings would thrill the Astros.
Aiken refused to play this game. He believed he had a deal for $6.5 million. And that was a discount. He also believed that he had passed the physical.
Before the 5 p.m. ET deadline on Friday for signing members of the 2014 Draft class, the Astros were cautiously optimistic that they could haul in Aiken, Nix and Marshall.
Only Aiken wouldn't play, Luhnow was forced to make his final offers via voicemail, and the No. 1 overall pick wouldn't bite. That a kid would walk away from $5 million, even if it was $1.5 million less than the deal he thought he had, speaks volumes about how he felt things were handled.
Meanwhile, there's Nix. As negotiations bogged down with Aiken, Luhnow was forced to rescind a reported $1.5 million offer to Nix because he hadn't been able to sign Aiken. When Aiken didn't sign, the Astros lost all their $7.9 million No. 1 pick slot money. So Nix got caught in a terrible place. He was a kid who'd done nothing except accept an offer that suddenly vanished.
If Luhnow had it all to do over again, he might do everything differently. If he really thought Aiken was a high-risk signing, why would he offer him $5 million? He might wish he'd stayed with the $6.5 million deal he originally negotiated. That original deal would have given him enough money to sign Nix, too.
So now, there could be grievances filed over the entire matter, especially over the Astros pulling out of the Nix deal.
Luhnow released a statement defending his handling of the negotiations, saying he did nothing wrong and kept Major League Baseball in the loop every step of the way.
Two months ago, the Astros had all kinds of momentum on their side. They were playing better. Their young talent was impressive. Suddenly, they didn't seem too far away.
Then they were embarrassed that they allowed their internal message board to get hacked, revealing the details of what other general managers believed were confidential trade discussions.
These are people who fancy themselves the smartest guys in the room. Suddenly, the hacked message board made them look vulnerable.
And now they're just the third team in history unable to sign an overall No. 1 pick. Building a great Minor League system is way more than about any single player, and the Astros will have the No. 2 pick in the 2015 Draft.
But this is the kind of thing that does more than slow the franchise's momentum toward being competitive. To Aiken -- and others in the industry -- there may be questions about whether Luhnow negotiated the original deal in good faith, and that kind of damage that can take years to repair.
Luhnow will have plenty of chances to do just that in the years ahead. He has said many times that rebuilding a franchise isn't an easy process. He was reminded of that on Friday."

Richard Justice is a columnist for MLB.com. Read his blog, Justice4U. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.