2004 Major League Baseball Season Discussion (1 Viewer)

[David Von Pein]

I'll agree with the Morgan sentiments here.
Loved Little Joe as a 2nd sacker; but at the mike -- stiff as a 7-day corpse. :frowning:

And -- Joe oughta know better than this (re. the "run support" thing), having played with one of the better pitchers of his era, Gary Nolan, whom the Reds refused to get any runs for, time & time again. Nolan *did* manage (somehow) to post 110 wins with Cincy in his career. But he'd have won many more if he had gotten more run support.

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

When I said good to have them back, I wasn't referring to the fact that they specifically were back, but their return means the return of regular season baseball which is really what I'm glad to have back. Put it this way if Gary Thorn had been at the healm tonight I would've welcomed him back.

 

[John Madia]

I'm a bit worried about Pedro. Even though he only gave up 2 earned runs in six last night (although the third run was due to his throwing error), he only had his changeup and an average fastball working for him. He's still a great pitcher and was able to work himself out of a jam but even he can't get by with mediocre stuff. I'm guessing he rebounds and has a very good season but I'm glad the Red Sox didn't sign him to a long year deal. My guess is that they keep him for another year (via arbitration) and after that he's gone.

Speaking of great pitchers getting roughed up, last year's AL Cy Young winner Roy Halladay was roughed up for seven runs... by the TIGERS. On the other side, Jason Johnson shut out the Blue Jay's through six. I'm not sure why the Orioles let him go. He's a solid #3 or #4 guy and the Orioles need pitching this year. They've got some good prospects but their #2-#5 pitchers have only won 10 major league games combined. They should have kept Johnson for a year or two and then let him go when the prospects developed.

I'm not jumping on the Kerry Wood NL Cy Young bandwagon. Wood has great stuff but has problems with his control. He'll be very good this year but I don't think he'll get 20 wins. My pick for the Cy Young would be Roy Oswalt. He has great stuff and an offense behind him that will score a ton of runs. He'll probably end up with 20+ wins and an ERA of around 3. Plus, hanging around Clemens should make him even better. The most amazing thing is he pitched better at home (minute maid park!) than away last year. The only thing stopping him is injuries but he seems like he'll be healthy for the season.

As for AL Cy Young I'm going to go with Schilling. I'll take Pujols for NL MVP especially if he leads the Cards into the playoffs. Bonds is going to get walked way too often and I doubt SF makes it to the postseason. AL MVP is wide open. I might be tempted to take Delgado but he could be traded to the NL midseason. It'll be hard to pick someone from the Yankees, Red Sox or Angels since their lineup's so strong. I guess I'll go out on a limb and say Soriano. He could hit 50 HR now that he's playing in Arlington and swipe 40 bags. Of course he could also be traded but he's as good a pick as any right now.

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

I'm surprised to see Halladay roughed up so bad today especially considering it was the Tigers that did the roughing up, but its not something I'd be really concerned about. A lot of guys that had really good seasons last year did not have great starts to those seasons, but Detroit is on a hot streak, 1 in a row.

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

Philadelphia is down in the 8th, and not having good luck with runners in scoring position. Although it is now 2-1 Pirates.

Anyway, Kansas City sure does know how to excite the fans coming back with 6 runs in the bottom of the ninth to beat the White Sox.

 

[Phil L]

I'd love to say that Pedro is done but I don't think its true.

He seems to have problems warming up in most games, only getting loose towards the 3-4th innings.

I'd say last night was because of the weather: even harder to warm up, hard to throw breaking balls, and so on.

I do think his velocity is down a bit further though.

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

Barry Bonds just did what Barry Bonds does and homered off of Houston to tie the game. He stands at 659 and it didn't take long for this one to leave the park.

 

[John Madia]

I was watching that and I can't believe Jimmy Williams Grady Little'd Roy Oswalt. Oswalt was outstanding and why I can't really question him starting the 8th, Williams should of taken him out once he let someone on base.

I think the trouble is that every manager would love to see their pitcher go out and pitch 9 innings and win the game. While common sense says to take the pitcher out in the 8th with a lead, your emotions tell you that your pitcher deserves to chance to pitch until the last out. The funny thing is that the greater the lead, the more inclined you are to stick with your starter. If the game was only 2 to 1 in the 8th, Williams might of brought in his set up man.

Anyway, it's not a smart move for Jimmy Williams who's being watched very carefully this season.

It had to sting Phillies fans to see Jose Mesa get the save against them. Kip Wells was great though and is a very good pitcher; he just gets overlooked playing in Pittsburgh.

Thinking back, I'm going with Delgado for AL MVP. If he is traded to a contender mid-season, it would most likely be the Red Sox and he'll stay in the AL. The other teams with a large enough payrolls to take Delgado that look to be contenders (Phillies, Yankees, Cubs, Astros, Mariners and Angels) already have first baseman. The other teams couldn't afford him unless Toronto kicked in some cash which I doubt they would do. The only other team is the Cards who would have to move Pujols back to left. I doubt they'd want to take on the salary and will probably be in more need of pitching than hitting anyway.

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

We've actually got a pretty good game going between the Indians in the Twins. Its 4-4 in the bottom of the eleventh.

Edit: Shannon Stewart ends the game with a 3 run homer in the bottom of the 11th, maybe I should've picked him for MVP? I thought he deserved consideration last season.

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

All in all some good games tonight and this afternoon, Arthur Rhodes had an ok first outing as A's closer getting the save in the game against Texas.

I'm looking forward to Tuesday and seeing my Braves for the first time, whether or not I'll want to see them again after that is yet to be determined.

 

[Brian Perry]

ESPN apparently cannot handle ERAs of infinity -- Marte of the White Sox allowed three runs in zero innings but they have him with an ERA of 27.00. They need to find one of those figure eight infinity logos.

(Added 10 minutes later...)

Now I'm peeved--I don't think any of these sports sites can handle an infinite ERA. The Tribune, Sun-times, sportsline.com all have his ERA at 0.00, which is even worse because it implies he had a good game! I don't know why this upsets me so much. Maybe because I'm a Cubs fan and love wallowing in White Sox misery.

 

[Shane Martin]

Watching my Dodgers lose didn't make me feel any better about their chances especially when they are interviewing their new GM and they try to get something going only to fizzle.

I still like the move they made for Bradley. He looks to be a solid player.

 

[Brian Perry]

Shane,

What's the prognosis on Hundley? I see he's on the DL again. Talk about a bust--$24 million for four completely horrid years (the first two unfortunately with the Cubs). Bringing him to the Dodgers is what arguably got Evans fired.

 

[Chris]

I couldn't believe it as I saw it.. but yeah, was fan excitement.. as soon as they got two runners on, they put the movie "Hoosiers" on the Jumbotron.. never more fitting. One hell of an opening day!

 

[Shane Martin]

Well Evans had alot of busts. He overpaid for Brown. He traded for Hundley(gah), and let Gruzelanik(sp) go as well which I thought was a mistake. Then he resigned Dreifort for 55 million. Evans was just awful and I'm glad he's toast.

I've not heard anything on Hundley. Personally It wouldn't bother me to not see him play for them again.

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

The very first pitch of the season for Russ Ortez was driven out of the park...lets hope this is not a sign of things to come for the Braves lest this end up being a very long season indeed.

Edit: Jiles goes deep for Hot-lanta...good thing we're facing Glavin tonight he pitches horribly against us.

 

[Chris]

It's good to see the Yankees looking like they will go below .500 tonight, they are taking a pounding from the Bay.. 3 men on, with the Bay already up

 

[Jed M]

I agree, the Royals game was amazing to watch; it just looked hopeless. I am old enough to remember when all those red clad Chiefs fans used to be blue blooded Royals fans and they are still as crazy as ever. Its been a long, long road for the fans since Ewing Kaufman died but it looks like the Royals finally have direction under David and Dan Glass (not to mention some clout w/ the other owners). One thing overshadowed by the Lopez/Beltran hr's is Juan Gonzalez had a pretty solid game. Heres to hoping this year, at age 34, he can rediscover the tools and desire that made him a two time MVP.

 

[Shane Martin]

Welcome to the league Kaz Matsui. First 2 hits in his pro debut:

Home Run from the first pitch
RBI double(with pretty stellar speed I might add).

This guy has 3 rbi's already.

 

[Scott Weinberg]

Yeah, a little.

Ask me again in 3 months when the Pirates are 19 games under .500 .