I seem to remember White Sox fans here claiming Martini was really a Cubs fan.
Every fanbase has some riduculous and embarrassing fans.
I wonder why Detroit didn't try to address their lack of athleticism this offseason. The WS exposed that weakness (although I think rust was a pretty big factor) I was expecting them to try and land a Michael Bourn or another top of the order bat who can manufacture runs. Berry did a good job when he came up for the most part, but I'm not sure if he's an everyday player yet. Victor Martinez replacing Delmon Young should give them a pretty decent boost but I think they need another bat.
I'm almost shocked they didn't give Rafael Soriano a blank cheque as well after Valverde $*** the bed last post season. Rondon has a great arm, but I thought they'd go with a more veteran approach.
NL
East
1. Philadelphia
2. Washington*
3. Atlanta*
4. New York
5. Miami
Central
1. St. Louis
2. Cincinnati
3. Milwaukee
4. Pittsburgh
5. Chicago
West
1. Los Angeles
2. San Francisco
3. Arizona
4. Colorado
5. San Diego
* - Wildcards
Playoffs:
Jays beat A's, Washington beats Atlanta.
LDS
Tampa vs Anaheim - Tampa in 4
Detroit vs Toronto - Toronto in 5
Los Angeles vs Philadelphia - Los Angeles in 3
St Louis vs Washington - St Louis in 5
LCS
Tampa vs Toronto - Toronto in 7
Los Angeles vs St Louis - Los Angeles in 5
WS
Toronto vs Los Angeles - Toronto in 5
AL MVP: Jose Bautista
AL CY Young: Justin Verlander
NL MVP: Ryan Howard
NL CY Young: Cole Hamels (HM: Johnny Cueto)
The shocking thing to me is just how much better pitching in the AL is compared to the NL. Outside of the big 3 on Philly and Strasburg in Washington, there's no one with any sort of high-level track record in the NL. The AL has Verlander, Sabathia, Dickey, Shields, Price, Weaver and more.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Better Call Saul
World Series: Nationals over Blue Jays
If that happens, a lot of Canadian baseball fans will be very upset.
I think he's due for a good year again, and I think Philly could finally put together a good season. I don't see anyone on the other playoff possibles that are more likely to put up huge numbers this year (I don't think it should go to a player whose team didn't make the playoffs), so he's my choice.
I know it's a risk, but I honestly think the NL MVP is going to be someone unpredictable at this point in time.
Considering the Braves and Nationals will likely duke it out for 1st, Phillies as a playoff team is a reach
Reds, Cards, Dodgers?, Giants all better
Quote:
Originally Posted by darko
Pretty much this.
A lot would have to go right for Phillies to make playoffs.
Eh. I don't think the Braves and Nats rosters are all that impressive. I find it hard to bet on either of them over a team with Halladay, Hamels and Lee and a lineup of Rollins, Revere, Utley, Howard, Delmon Young and Carlos Ruiz, regardless of their injury-filled season and/or the poor numbers most of them had. The bullpen is iffy on paper, but most bullpens are hard to predict accurately before the season anyway.
I think there's more chance that the Braves and Nats regress this year than that the Phillies struggle as much as they did last.
In all honesty, if there's something I'm uncertain about in my projections it's that both Atlanta and Washington get the wild card spots, but with Miami dealing away everything and the Mets looking just as bad as last year, I think they got a lot of teams to beat up on. If the Reds and/or Giants join one of them or both get wild card spots, I wouldn't be totally surprised, though.
Eh. I don't think the Braves and Nats rosters are all that impressive. I find it hard to bet on either of them over a team with Halladay, Hamels and Lee and a lineup of Rollins, Revere, Utley, Howard, Delmon Young and Carlos Ruiz, regardless of their injury-filled season and/or the poor numbers most of them had. The bullpen is iffy on paper, but most bullpens are hard to predict accurately before the season anyway.
I think there's more chance that the Braves and Nats regress this year than that the Phillies struggle as much as they did last.
In all honesty, if there's something I'm uncertain about in my projections it's that both Atlanta and Washington get the wild card spots, but with Miami dealing away everything and the Mets looking just as bad as last year, I think they got a lot of teams to beat up on. If the Reds and/or Giants join one of them or both get wild card spots, I wouldn't be totally surprised, though.
Except that's an average lineup when healthy. Regardless of Carlos Ruiz having another career year.
Except that's an average lineup when healthy. Regardless of Carlos Ruiz having another career year.
I disagree wholly. Rollins is a 30 SB leadoff hitter who can also hit 20ish HRs and hit .265-.270 and a ~.750 OPS, Revere is a young hitter who hit .294 last year with 40 SB, Utley and Howard are still 260-280 hitters with 30+ HR pop who struggled last year (and the past couple years in the case of Utley) due to injuries and Delmon Young is still a threat for 20 HRs, though his BB/K ratio has always been very bad.
And while the top 6 in the Nats lineup all had excellent years last year, all of them performed far over their averages. Desmond, Span, Laroche, Werth and Zimmerman were all 280+ average with .330-.360 OBP with Laroche, Zimmerman and Desmond hitting 25+ HR last year, but their career numbers put them closer to .250-.260 with 315-330 OBP and 15-25 HRs. I also expect a bit of an off-year for Harper, and even if he performs as well as he did last year, he might not be enough, IMO. They do have a nasty starting pitching rotation with Strasburg, Zimmerman and Gonzalez, but Strasburg is still a question mark at least, even if Zimmerman and Gonzalez are locks.
As well, I'm not impressed at all with the Braves top 2 of Simmons and Heyward at the top of the order, and BJ Upton is somewhat overrated, IMO. Even McCann, who I think is their second-best hitter after Justin Upton, had a poor year last year. Even worse, their rotation is quite weak with Hudson, Minor and Medlen, though if Medlin can continue with his starting numbers (0.97 ERA in 12 starts? ), that could be huge for them.
I'm still more impressed with what Philly has to offer, though I don't doubt that the Nats and Braves have the ability to win the division, too.
I disagree wholly. Rollins is a 30 SB leadoff hitter who can also hit 20ish HRs and hit .265-.270 and a ~.750 OPS, Revere is a young hitter who hit .294 last year with 40 SB, Utley and Howard are still 260-280 hitters with 30+ HR pop who struggled last year (and the past couple years in the case of Utley) due to injuries and Delmon Young is still a threat for 20 HRs, though his BB/K ratio has always been very bad..
Revere isn't very good. He brings speed and not much else. Delmon's OBP was below .300 last season. Rollins was .316 last season. Utley is declining and has struggled to stay healthy.
If Utley and Howard can stay healthy and Michael Young has a decent season they might challenge for a playoff spot.
Revere isn't very good. He brings speed and not much else. Delmon's OBP was below .300 last season. Rollins was .316 last season. Utley is declining and has struggled to stay healthy.
If Utley and Howard can stay healthy and Michael Young has a decent season they might challenge for a playoff spot.
My whole point was that I think last year was an anomaly for most of that lineup. Utley, Rollins and Howard have all been much better than they were last year, and I expect at least two of the three to bounce back this year with solid numbers, with Howard potentially being an MVP contender. I agree that Delmon is a poor OBP player, but he still delivers 20-30 HR a year which is still useful if the top 4 are all producing well.
My whole point was that I think last year was an anomaly for most of that lineup. Utley, Rollins and Howard have all been much better than they were last year, and I expect at least two of the three to bounce back this year with solid numbers, with Howard potentially being an MVP contender. I agree that Delmon is a poor OBP player, but he still delivers 20-30 HR a year which is still useful if the top 4 are all producing well.
And I think Revere is a solid #2 hitter.
Being allergic to walks and striking out a lot takes away from his lone offensive contribution (power). He's also a dreadful defender. Delmon had negative WAR last season for a reason. In fact he's had negative WAR in 3 out of his 6 full seasons. Delmon Young is a horrible baseball player.
Being allergic to walks and striking out a lot takes away from his lone offensive contribution (power).
Perhaps somewhat, but I still think 30BB and 100+ K for the 20 HR and 40 extra base hits he has the potential of hitting, not to mention the 70+ RBIs, is a fair trade off.
Quote:
Originally Posted by darko
He's also a dreadful defender.
Fair enough. He'll be in RF, though. Not overly concerned with his overall defensive ability at that position.
Quote:
Originally Posted by darko
Delmon had negative WAR last season for a reason. In fact he's had negative WAR in 3 out of his 6 full seasons. Delmon Young is a horrible baseball player.
According to whose formula for WAR? WAR is a very questionable stat to use since there really isn't a standardized formula to calculate it. For example, Baseball-Reference has him at -7.7 WAR last season but a +0.3 WAR the year before, an Even WAR in 2010 and a +1.0 WAR in 2009 with a career +4.9 Offensive WAR (-8.0 Defensive WAR) and a -6.4 WAR over those 4 seasons. However, FanGraphs have him at only -0.7 last year, +0.4 for the year before, a +1.7 WAR in 2010 and a -0.9 in 2009 for a +0.5 over the same stretch of time with a career +0.8 WAR. Which one's right?
Delmon might be "a horrible baseball player", but WAR is a really bad stat to use to defend that position, IMO.
Last edited by Leafsdude7: 03-02-2013 at 10:03 PM.
RBIs are a team related stats. You dont drive anyone in if guys in front of you dont get on base regardless how good of a hitter you are.
Not using WAR is fine. You can use your regular offensive statistics such as OBP, SLG and OPS. 51st in OBP last season amongst outfielders and 40th in SLG%. Coco Crisp had a higher SLG% than Delmon Young.
Offensively Delmon is a starting caliber player. When you consider how bad he is defensively he isn't.
RBIs are a team related stats. You dont drive anyone in if guys in front of you dont get on base regardless how good of a hitter you are.
Not using WAR is fine. You can use your regular offensive statistics such as OBP, SLG and OPS. 51st in OBP last season amongst outfielders and 40th in SLG%. Coco Crisp had a higher SLG% than Delmon Young.
Offensively Delmon is a starting caliber player. When you consider how bad he is defensively he isn't.
Eh. As I said, as a RF, I'm not overly concerned with his (lack of) defensive ability.
you want a good defensive player in right field. he needs to be able to get to extra base hits in the corner pretty quickly and have a strong, accurate arm to get runners at third and home.
you stick useless players like young in left field because they're closer to third and the centerfielder can cheat a little towards left.
and while i appreciate you backing up your statements, my argument would be that you're defending the phillies lineup against the nationals/braves as both of those having "performed over their averages" while the phillies struggled and "should get better this year".
the braves and nationals are younger than the phillies, who boast an infield no younger than 33 and entirely relying on guys like rollins and utley getting on base in front of bad players like howard and young^2. the phillies got old quick and don't have the money to get replacements for these guys because they're paying the top three of their rotation 56.5 million dollars this year and their infield 66 million with no quality depth.
depth becomes an issue as the season goes on, when utley gets hurt and freddy galvis is his replacement. that's a drop in obp, which effects howard and young^2's ability to "drive in runs" when there's fewer runs on the board. ben revere is a defense only player and darin ruf is a minor league babe ruth who is 26 and has slugged in mlb...in 37 plate appearances. he's a poor defensive player, which fits in well with the phillies.
i can't get past all that. after their good top three pitchers, they have lannan, kendrick, cloyd, etc. guys who might be #5's pitching in front of a poor defense? not a good recipe. again, they lack the depth of the braves and nationals and i think that's the problem for the phillies in 2013. over 162 games, that'll even itself out.
), that could be huge for them.
