MLB Hot Stove 2008-2009 (1 Viewer)

[Walter C]

And move back to the Kingdome, and they are good to go. Perhaps on some Bizarro World.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Hey! Jeter has those calm eyes...

 

[Mike Frezon]

I just watched an ESPN report on Griffey going back to the M's. They mentioned how Tony Perez is among those player who returned to their original team (Reds) at the end of their carer.

How the heck did Perez bat .328 in 1985 at the age of 43?!? 60 hits in 183 ABs. That's 50 points higher than his lifetime average of .279. I don't remember that at all.

 

[Scott_J]

Leave it to Johnny Damon to put A-Rod's steroid situation into perspective:


That's nothing. He's only 40. How about 49-year-old "Oil Can" Boyd wanting to return to MLB?

 

[Mike Frezon]

Cool. Put Mike Stanley or Carlton Fisk behind the plate and you'd have one heckuva battery.

Rickey just be turnin' fifty. How cool to get voted into the H-O-F and then take your place in the outfield?!?

 

[Ockeghem]

I loved watching Oil Can Boyd pitch. I wish he had had another ten miles per hour or so on his fastball, but he was still a lot of fun to watch.

 

[Mike Frezon]

I still don't like the idea of the WBC taking place during spring training.

And that dislike is driven home every time I hear a report from Red Sox camp that Daisuke Matsuzaka is being "closely monitored" while he trains in Japan for the WBC.

Despite all the assurances that they are getting multiple reports on a daily basis, it's not like having the manager's and coach's eyes on the players in February and March.

Of course, a number of other Sox players are also playing for Team USA (and other teams) and will be leaving camp eventually to participate in the Classic.

I assume all teams are being impacted in some shape or form by this. Not having the players on a team together in one place (new players bonding with new teammates, double-play combos getting their timing down, etc.) is only going to hurt in April & May...and maybe over a longer haul.

Last year the Sox and A's were in Japan to open the regular season. While that's another bad idea...this one has just as much potential (if not more) to negatively impact a team as Opening Day rolls around.

 

[Walter C]

I don't mind the WBC as much this time around, as I look forward to the Asian teams facing off, being Asian myself. Let's go Korea.

The big problem I do have, is the pushing the regular season by a week, which then pushes the playoffs well into November.

 

[EricW]

i think a few players had career years after they went to the WBC (Vernon Wells comes to mind) and they said it was because they were much more prepared for the regular season.

 

[Philip Hamm]

My brother and nephew went down to Florida for spring training last year. They also went to some WBC games and they loved them. For the fans who travel to spring training, the WBC is a great thing - real games that actually have some meaning instead of just practice games.

 

[Mike Frezon]

I dunno. The regular season brings 162 games that mean something. I think that's plenty. Spring training is for...well, training. And, coming together as a team. That is all disrupted by the WBC.

And I haven't figured out yet what's the point of the WBC. Those games really don't mean anything to me. Maybe if I understood the purpose of the WBC I'd appreciate this situation a little more.

 

[Walter C]

It was started mainly because MLB will not suspend the regular season for the Olympics, which is what hockey does in the Winter Games.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Thanks, Walter. That's actually more than I knew before.

But...I am left to wonder...why? I guess for $$$, huh? The same reason the Sox & A's were in Japan to start last season. To try and expand the international audience of the game.

The nationalist in me says "phooey." The only baseball that matters (to me) takes place in the American and National leagues.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Baseball is, once again, being played in the land.

 

[Scott_J]

Who says A-Rod can't hit in the clutch? He hit a home run in the first game of spring training.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Does anyone know why sterioids/HGH don't work in October?

 

[LewB]

Looks like A-Rod will need surgery to remove a cyst in his hip. Wonder if that's where 'cousin Uri' shot him up ?
Maybe they could lance the boil between his ears too

 

[Mike Frezon]

And we should note that Manny has finally come on for a landing.

 

[MarkHastings]

Good, he can stay on the other coast and in a different league.

 

[Scott_J]

For essentially the same offer the Dodgers made in November (with an opt-out and no-trade added). Well worth the 4-month soap opera.