Arena The Major League Baseball Thread

Alright ladies and gentlemen, it?s here. Welcome to the Arena's first, primary, exclusive, awesome, exquisite, topped with pepperoni and a side of mashed potatoes, MLB Discussion Thread!

The offseason is upon us, and it is sure to be an exciting one once again. A lot of big names on the free agent market, including NL MVP candidate (and winner IMHO) Alfonso Soriano, NL Comeback Player of the Year Nomar Garciaparra, and the energetic speedster Juan Pierre.

Who will end up where? Who will be the MVP of their respective leagues? Who will clean house, and who will keep it the mess it is? We've only got 5 more months until opening day, let's get to it folks!

 

The Braves have three issues to address, IMO, of which 2 really need to be filled (and possibly by 1 player): Left Field, Second Base, and Leadoff Batter.

It looks like Giles will be traded this winter, so a leadoff 2nd baseman would work, and then there are other players (Langerhans, Diaz, Kelly Johnson, among others) than can fill in for LF. Alternatively, a leadoff LF would also work, and then let prospect Martin Prado be the starting 2nd baseman next year. Either would be just fine for me.

They could also use a little bullpen help, but I don't think its all that big of a concern. Starting rotation looks good with Smoltz-Hudson-Hampton and pick two of Ramirez-Davies-James (I say Davies and James as of right now, with Ramirez being traded).

 

Johan Santana just won his second CY Young award with a unanimous vote.

 

Number of people surprised: Zero.

 

I'm relieved that Trevor Hoffman didn't get the Cy Young. I'm not ignoring the fact that he broke a very impressive record this season, but I stand by the belief that closers should not win Cy Youngs. Plus, I don't think B-Webb deserved it either. Roy Oswalt is the winner in my mind. He finished off the year with a 15-8 record (could have made it to at least 18 if he had a smidgeon of an offense behind him) with a 2.98 ERA and 166 k's.

On another note, the Jays will likely sign The Big Hurt. However, $20 million is way too steep. Ricciardi definitely has some bargaining issues. Thomas is old (38) and no stranger to injuries. $20 million is too much. A's picked him up for only $500,000 last season with a couple million (2.6) in season bonuses. Thomas hits 39 homers and now he's worth 20 million? Ah well, it looks like a done deal pending a physical.

 

Earlier today the White Sox and Cubs exchanged relievers. The Sox gave up Neal Cotts for David Aardsma and Minor League pitcher Carlos Vasquez.

 

Had the Braves had a decent bullpen this year, Smoltz would have been in the discussion - he went 16-9 as it was, just as many wins as anyone else, and could have been 22-9 if the bullpen hadn't blown his leads so often. Also up at the top in strikeouts and IP.

He finished strong, too, going 4-0 with a 0.98 ERA in his last four starts, but it was too little, too late.

 

The Red Sox won the bidding for a 26-year old right handed pitcher from Japan, Daisuke Matsuzaka. They still haven't signed a contract, but I really hope he's worth all this money.

 

$32 million a year for a pitcher who's never pitched in the MLB before. I think that's a huge mistake for the Red Sox, unless Scott Boras simply wouldn't have it any other way (in which case I'd be shocked that the deal got done this quickly). In today's Hardball Times, David Gassko claims that Matsuzaka would be worth $22M over 3 years or $49 over 4 years, once the posting fee and possible Japanese revenue streams are taken into account.

In other news, the Astros found their new pitching coach in Dave Wallace. Not a bad move, but Jim Hickey is not the one who should've been fired from the organization in the first place. They should have said bye-bye to Phil Garner, one of the most pathetic excuses for a manager I've ever seen.

Also, I just read that the Astros are believed to have made offers to Carlos Lee and Alfonso Soriano, but Purpura would only confirm that he has made offers to free agents and would not identify which ones. Purpura has had multiple discussions with Lee's agent Adam Katz and Soriano's agent Fern Cuza. I wouldn't mind having Lee, but I think Soriano would benefit the team more than Carlos would.

And Purpura also confirmed that he spoke with Barry Meister, the agent for Woody Williams on Tuesday and planned to contact Meister again Wednesday or Thursday. If this happens, the Astros are truly lost. We do not need another pitcher, especially an old one, until we've signed a big bat, darn it!

 

i heard about that. i didn't know that was going to happen

 

I'm hoping he's worth the money, I'm worried about this. I personally think it was the wrong move, though I have never seen him play, I really hope he proves me wrong.

 

Federal judge dismisses lawsuit that was seeking to stop construction of the Yankees new 1 Billion Dollar stadium

Slow baseball day.

 

Thank you Mr. Judge!


Reynor: What's your reasoning for Soriano over Pujols, Howard, Berkman?

 

Soriano would be no higher than fourth on my list. (Pujols, Howard, Beltran, then maybe Soriano) His team was nowhere near contention.

 

Master_Kast7, thank you for mentioning Lance Berkman.

I guess the reason I favor Soriano over the rest of the candidates is because of his versatility. 46 homers, 41 stolen bases, and 41 doubles with 95 ribbies floats my boat. Buuuuut, I just looked over his 2006 stats, and I'm afraid I thought he did better this season than he actually did. 160 k's in 159 games is a big no-no.

*shrugs*

Guess my vote goes to Beltran then, since I can't stand Pujols or Howard. As much as I'd like to give it to my man Berkman, I just don't think he did enough this season.

 

This one is for AJ.......



POO-HOLES!

 

Wait, I'm not the only one on here who strongly dislikes Poo-Holes?

 

That made you think I dislike Pujols?


I love Pujols the dude is a beast and plays the game with class and is very classy off the field.

 

Walking out of the batter's box is not class, my friend. Plus, I can't like a guy who murders my own team!

In other news, The Big Hurt's now a Blue Jay and the Dodgers are likely to sign Nomar, which means we will probably see a lot of James Loney in the outfield rather than first base.

 

[image=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v655/Varouj5234/funny%20pics/pooholes.jpg]




and yeah, I love Pujols. He's the best hitter in the game right now.

And anyone who thinks he's not classy doesn't know what they're talking about.

 

My roommate said there was a rumor yesterday about the Braves trading Giles, Horacio Ramirez, and Jarred Saltalamacchia for Jake Peavy... I laughed.

He did too, for that matter. One of those many crazy rumors that fly in the winter, with little to no real significance.

 

Well, the Cubs appear to have landed Alfonso Soriano, reportedly signing the outfielder to an eight-year, $136 million contract. It's the fifth-largest package ever given to a Major League player, behind Alex Rodriguez ($252 million for 10 years), Derek Jeter ($189 million for 10 years), Manny Ramirez ($160 million for eight years) and Todd Helton ($141.5 million for 11 years). Guess this means that Carlos Lee is more than likely to head for Houston. Lee + Crawford Boxes = 40+ homers, easy.

Next up, the Dodgers announced the re-signing of NL Comeback Player of the Year Nomar Garciaparra to a two-year contract. In his first season as a Dodger, Nomar hit .303 with 20 homers and 93 RBIs, and he was named an All-Star for the fifth time. But he also missed 40 games entirely and played in maybe 40 more while nursing significant injuries, which contributed to an offensive slump in which he hit only .229 after the All-Star break, compared to .358 before the break (second-highest in Los Angeles history). If he can play like he did this past season when he was uninjured, then this is a great move for LA.

Also, the Mets are close to a deal with Moises Alou. A person familiar with the situation acknowledged as much Sunday, saying a one-year deal was all but established, though he was unaware of interest in Alou that has developed by the A's since the departure of Frank Thomas. The Mets have said nothing official, but general manager Omar Minaya is known to appreciate Alou's offensive skills and to not be put off by his age, 40. Media reports put the deal at $8-9 million, and say it would have an option for 2009. Signing Alou, a right-handed hitter with a history of abusing left-handed pitching, would all but eliminate the chance of Cliff Floyd re-signing with the Mets. And it undoubtedly would reduce the chance of Lastings Milledge playing regularly with the Mets. If Alou were to play left field regularly or close to regularly, Milledge would be pushed aside at the position the Mets think suits him best, given their other personnel. He could be used to spell Shawn Green in right field, but any sort of time-share arrangement probably would afford the 21-year-old right-handed hitter so little playing time that his development would be stunted. Chances are, Milledge would begin next season in the Minor Leagues, where he would play regularly, or he would be moved to a different team in a trade that would upgrade the starting pitching.

And finally, Ryan Howard has won the NL MVP. Howard becomes the second player in Major League Baseball history to win the Rookie of the Year and MVP Awards in consecutive seasons, following Cal Ripken in 1982 and 1983. Fred Lynn (1975) and Ichiro Suzuki (2001) have the even sweeter distinction of winning both awards in their first seasons. Howard is also the first Phillie to be named MVP since Mike Schmidt won the last of his three awards in 1986.

 

Voters are getting dumber by the minute.

Rob Neyer(I believe it was him anyway) looks like a genius now for saying that we don't need awards to tell us who the true winner is. Though I agreed with him all along it's just now he's proven correct.


Rings > Awards. Pujols gets the ring. Howard gets the MVP.

 

Even though I can't stand Pujols (I like his personality and everything, except for when he walks out of the batter's box and practically murders the Astros), I do think he deserved the award. Let's compare:

BA/OBP/SLG/OPS
Pujols - .331/.431/.671/1.102
Howard - .313/.425/.659/1.084

Very similiar, but remember Howard plays in a hitter friendly park, the New Busch showed itself to be a pitcher's park.

BA/OBP/SLG/OPS with RISP
Pujols - .397/.535/.802/1.337
Howard - .256/.426/.518/.944

BA/OBP/SLG/OPS with RISP with 2 outs
Pujols - .435/.581/.826/1.407
Howard - .247/.473/.481/.954

BA/OBP/SLG/OPS is "late and close games" (as defined by baseball-reference)
Pujols - .328/.476/.859/1.335
Howard - .299/.460/.649/1.109

Basically to summarize, Howard chokes, Pujols rises to the occassion. Howard had 164 AB with RISP to Pujols' 126, yet Howard managed on 12 more RBI's. Pujols had something like 26 or 27 game winning RBI's. Also, remember Pujols misses two weeks mid season due to an injury. How many more RBI's would Pujols have than Howard if he had as many AB's with RISP and played in as many games as Howard?

Defensively, Pujols is considered one of the best 1st basemen in baseball, while Howard is considered one of the worst. Pujols is considered to be a good baserunner, Howard isn't able to run. Howard's team didn't make the playoffs, the Cardinals did (albeit I do not believe the team's result should have an effect on the voting).

Pujols FTW, but there's nothing we can do about it now. Like Kast said, Pujols got the ring.

 

There's also the fact that Howard struck out I think almost 100 more times. And Pujols' is much higher in the VORP.