Pitchers and catchers reporting to spring training (1 Viewer)

[Robert Crawford]

How about the film "Bang the Drum Slowly"?????

 

[Jason Seaver]

Matter of fact, I'm willing to bet that outside of Peter Gammons, a known Red Sox fan, you won't find too many baseball experts outside of Boston predicting otherwise.

Have you read Gammons in the last ten years? He certainly doesn't read like a fan. (Sure, most of that was some kind of personal vendetta against ex-GM Dan Duquette, but he's been pretty relentlessly down on them)

And I myself wouldn't necessarily predict Boston coming out ahead of New York this year, but that's not the same as thinking it's unlikely or not liking the Sox' chances. It's a very good team that matches up well with the Yankees, upgraded from a 93-win team that underperformed relative to its run scored minus runs allowed last year. "Not giving them much of a chance" seems a little foolhardy.

 

[Joseph S]

Both publications are the premier preseason magazines for baseball fans and they predicted the Yankees finishing ahead of the Red Sox.

Given that they're spending about 180% of the Red Sox salary already shouldn't they expect around 170 wins in 162 games this year? How much longer until the "Pedro is done" theme comes along? I don't care for the new Sox management, T. Nixon who only plays during the 1 month of the year when the team loses 80% of its games, the horrific resignings of Castillo and Banks, lack of a closer, and 4th and 5th starters.

However, I also am not that impressed by the $200 million team either. Too old in pitching, a questionable 15 man starting pitching staff, and poor defense. That said, I expect another $20 mil in salaries to be added during the year to try to fill in. He would have been better off buying up the Twins, A's, D-Rays, KC, MTL, Fla, Pit, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic in the off season.

Bud Selig talked a big game, but he did nothing but allow baseball to continue its downward spiral. At least his team is on pace to lose another 100+ games, he gave up on an all-star shortstop with a bunch of strikeouts and ended over-paying in comparison for a mediocre one by about 4million. I think they have something like 20% tied of the team up in Hammonds.

I loved the umpire stories of the offseason. Last year we learned the official and 1 former supervisor, Pulli and Garcia, were/are tied to organized crime and gambling. Now, we officially find out the underlings are anti-semites, racists, homophobes, and incompetent to boot.

 

[LewB]

As the start of baseball season gets closer , there are a couple of questions that need to be answered:

• How will 'the curse' manifest itself this year ?
• When will Dolan stop swinging his genitalia and show the YES network on Cablevision ?

 

[Shane Martin]

The big question for me is "Will the Dodgers put some offense together?".

My next door neighbor played SS for the Dodgers so I'm a bit of a fan and bleed blue

Now let's get back to the Redsox/yankees discussion.

 

[Tommy Ceez]

In order for there to be a Yank/RS rivalry the Yankee fans would have to CARE about the Red Sox, which we havnt for about 5 Years. As a matter of fact when the RS are in town its the only time anyone in NY even thinks about them.
However, anytime 10 people congregate in NE theres a "F**k the Yankees!" chant.

Can you say obsessed?

 

[Brian Lawrence]

Yanks? Red Sox? Who cares? American League Baseball stinks anyhow

Of course I should thank the Red Sox, It seems like every year when my Braves are are in a rut, they can count on the inter-league trip to Fenway to get back in a winning groove.

For the Red Sox it usually marks the beginning of the end as they start their annual self implosion after getting off to a good start in the first month or two. Seems to happen that way almost every year.

 

[Joseph S]

Of course I should thank the Red Sox, It seems like every year when my Braves are are in a rut, they can count on the inter-league trip to Fenway to get back in a winning groove.

Not this year. You get the lovely Tampa Bay Devil Rays and the AL West. There's probably nothing worse than sitting through a Devil Rays' game. A win is guaranteed nearly 85% of the time if you're above .500. Every opposing team also seems to have more fans at the Tampa games.

 

[Phil L]

>how do you explain Georgie buying up Cuban imports

Contreras- 2004 rotation. Same reason they traded for Weaver. Same reason they signed Lieber. After this year its likely that Clemens, Petitte, and Wells are gone.

>diverting Colon to Chicago?

Got rid of El Duque, didn't have to pay much of his salary, also picked up Osuna (strikeout reliever) and another pitcher. Good deal. It had very little to do with Boston. Besides, Colon wasn't going to Boston without the RS giving up Fossum, which wasn't going to happen.

>It doesn't matter if they beat the Mets either, but >that's always another item Georgie fires people over.

That's true. 5 days after Ted Lilly got hammered by the Mets he was out- Weaver was in.

BTW- The Lilly-Weaver deal, when you think about it- Oakland took Carlos Pena and wound up with Erubiel Durazo and Ted Lilly. Beane is a genius.

 

[Shane Martin]

Of course I should thank the Red Sox, It seems like every year when my Braves are are in a rut, they can count on the inter-league trip to Fenway to get back in a winning groove.

Then again that doesn't help the Braves because they usually choke it out in the playoffs. If they didn't win the series once, they'd be the buffalo bills of baseball :p

 

[Michael*K]

Sadly, it appears the Florida heat may have claimed its first victim. Orioles pitcher Steve Bechler died today after being overcome yesterday. He was only 23.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Greg Maddux just agreed to the largest 1 year contract: $14.75 million.

If he wins 15 games again, that's like $1 million/win.

 

[Tommy Ceez]

Sadly, it appears the Florida heat may have claimed its first victim. Orioles pitcher Steve Bechler died today after being overcome yesterday. He was only 23.

How horrible. Condolences to his family.
Is it about time we start looking into these diatary suppliments and ripped fuel-esque drugs for a hand in these tragedies? I took them once and was dehydrated for days. Something has to be done. Just conjecture...I have no proof there were suppliments involved but ST has been going on in florida for years (and minicamp up north for years) but it now seems like a recent epedemic.

 

[Tommy Ceez]

Looks like the mainstream press is not citing the diatary suppliments as a causal factor. I had no idea.

 

[Chris Lockwood]

80 degrees isn't exactly heat- how do they make it thru the summer?

 

[Masood Ali]

The media loves scapegoats.

Article On Bechler

This article states that he had a history of problems with heat stroke. He's overweight, has a history of problems with heat stroke, has pre-existing heart and kidney problems and he's taking ephedra while doing high intensity cardio. Add to that the fact that his father had a history of heart-related complications, and his half-brother also died while playing baseball (not related to ephedra usage).

He could have had a triple-shot at Starbucks that morning and would have probably met the same fate. The fact that he couldn't read the warning label on all products containing ephedra (which mention that people with heart, liver, and other conditions should not take them) does not mean ephedra should be banned in the MLB.

 

[Masood Ali]

Forgot to mention that Bechler also took more than the recommended dosage of the particular product he was using (Xenadrine RFA-1).

 

[Tommy Ceez]

Efedra is banned in the NBA, the NFL and Nassau County in NY. Now a MLB player dies with efedra as a causal factor. Should they wait for 2 deaths so as to have a larger sample size?

 

[Michael*K]

MLB is hindered by its past dealings with the players' union. As has been the case over the last several decades, the owners have allowed the union to run roughshod over them...no salary reform, no mandatory drug testing, no supplement bans, etc. If MLB players start dropping like flies, they can look themselves (and their union) in the mirror.

 

[Masood Ali]

Efedra is banned in the NBA, the NFL and Nassau County in NY. Now a MLB player dies with efedra as a causal factor. Should they wait for 2 deaths so as to have a larger sample size?

I'm just saying that big decisions shouldn't be based on the actions of a Darwin Award nominee.

Bechler has become a signpost on many MLB players paths through life; a sign of what not to do. Players who still use ephedra will do so with more caution now.