MLB 2014 Season Thread

I'm not talking about that retarded shit, which is mostly what Olbermann hated I think, just the asshole voters.

And that shit with Jetes and Mo should be all the reason anyone needs to hate the fucking Yankees. God I hope it doesn't become a regular thing for retiring stars...

Adam12_sl said:

Yeah, I don't think anyone is saying he isn't a hall of famer or that he didn't have a great career. It's the entire season of crowning him as the greatest player of all time (when he wasn't even the best player on his team in most seasons) that is pissing people off. Olbermann has it right.

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Duppin said there's a good argument for him not being first ballot and moon said he was coasting on his first 5 years when he put up similar numbers for about 13 years.

Grimmlokk_sl said:

Pirates won last night, 1 game back of the Cards with 3 to go for each. I'd very much like to believe they could take the division and avoid the fucking retarded 1 game Wild Card "playoff". But they'll have to win 2 more than the Cards over 3 games since the Cards won the season series, right?

Wild Card really needs to be 3 games.

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If they end up tied they will play a one game playoff to determine who is the division winner. That game will be played in St. Louis because the Cardinals won the season series. I would say ending up tied is a very real possibility with how hot the Pirates have been lately, but the Cards have also been very good lately and they will be playing the D'Backs who now hold the worst record in MLB. So it's unlikely that the Cards will be losing much over the next 3 days.

Yeah and the Pirates get the Reds so a sweep is unlikely.

For most of his career he wasn't even the best player on his team in any given year. He was still good to great for a long time but one wonders if he hadn't been attached to the Yankees image following their string of WS wins in the late 90s if he wouldn't have been shown the door at some point. If it hadn't been the Yankees then I would say the possibility of him finishing out his career somewhere else would have been fairly high. Plus, his last few years have all the hallmarks of a guy who should have been put out to pasture but wasn't because of who he was versus how he played. See: Bonds, Ripken Jr.]

He's still a HoF player, no question, but his career is just so odd.

Royals clinch a playoff berth for the first time in 29 years. To put that in to a little historical perspective:

September 1985:

Not really though, last year he got hurt, but the year before that he hit almost .320 with 15 HR. Hardly "put out to pasture" numbers.

I think he realized last year he wasn't going to be able to come back and play like he used to, hence the retirement

Duppin_sl said:

Grim, if you think that first ballot means something extra? I wouldn't put Jeter in that category.

Great player, no question, but he's not in the same class as guys like Mays, Schmidt, etc. Those are the kind of players that people think of as first ballot guys, and Jeter just isn't part of that tier.

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I agree that he's not going to get in unanimously because no one does. To be honest, Mariano probably has a better argument for going in unanimously and he's not going to get it either because baseball writers are stupid. I also agree that he's not in the first tier of players like Mays/Ruth/etc.

The thing is that he's been amazingly consistent. Yes, he benefits by being on a winning team throughout his career and playing in NY but some guys just live a charmed like like that. If you're going to compare him to a player, how about someone like Pete Rose? Pete Rose wasn't the best player (hell Jeter was a better athlete) but he was incredibly clutch when it counted. I heard an interesting stat yesterday where Jeter at this point in his career is actually 2 hits better than Rose was at the same time. Saying his career only comes from the first 5 years is ignorant (example: completely ignores 2006 where I think it was a crime he didn't get the MVP). You don't luck into a 310 career average and 3400+ hits. Yankee fans will tell you that the stuff that happened on Thursday night, he did thatall the time, and not in meaningless games but big games like playoff and world series.

I'm not saying he's in the pantheon with Ruth and Mays and them, I'm saying he's a no-brainer Hall of Famer and if you don't vote for him it has nothing to do with him and everything to do with you, and that's a problem. I don't care about Jeter himself, I care about the stupid writer assholes that pull this "No one first ballot EVER" bullshit.

Seriously, Willie fucking Mays wasn't unanimous. 23 voters looked at unarguably one of the 5 best players of all time and said 'Not on my watch!'. 20 did the same for Ted Williams. 16 for Schmidt.

edit: Ha! 43 for Micky Mantle. Nice.

Craziest Jeter stat I heard, if he plays tomorrow, he will have only played I think they said 4 (maybe 5) games in his entire career where the Yankees weren't mathematically in playoff contention. Obviously a result of the team he played for, but still pretty insane to go through an entire career like that.

Wrong thread.

Alex_sl said:

Wrong thread.

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No, go ahead and let us know how Jeter is just like the Bengals=P

Bonds should have been out to pasture prior to his retirement?

In his final season, Bonds went 276/480/565 with an OPS+ of 169.

I do agree that Jeter and Ripken's careers were extended because of who they were, but Bonds career was shortened because of who he was (or what he did off the field).

Grimmlokk_sl said:

No, go ahead and let us know how Jeter is just like the Bengals=P

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The Steelers are on their way to being third or worse in the AFC North for a third consecutive year. Your butthurt is so satisfying.

Gardenhire fired by the Twins. I wish the White Sox would fire Ventura and get Gardenhire.

Astros post-mortem:

Well, 70 wins is better than 51, but still sucks. I can't complain about them getting two top 5 picks next year, though (assuming they can actually sign them). Obviously Altuve had a great year, and Dexter Fowler looked good when he was healthy. Springer was looking pretty decent before he got hurt. Chris Carter looked great after the all star break, but he still strikes out too much and doesn't get on base enough aside from walks and homeruns. Jonathan Singleton really needs to work in the off-season, though. He wound up hitting like, .168 or something with way too many strikeouts (which is an issue up and down their lineup). Keuchel and McHugh both look legit, but their bullpen aside from one or two arms is dogshit. Management says they plan on spending this off season, so we'll see how it turns out. Best case scenario would be going after someone like Scherzer, but I'm not holding my breath.

Areas to address: SS,3B,OF,C,back part of the rotation and bullpen (hopefully Correa recovers from his broken leg fairly well and Colin Moran shows improvement and can make a case for himself in spring training)

I just wonder how long it will be until Altuve's representation or he himself realizes how team-friendly his deal is and begin pressing for re-negotiations.

Unfortunately for Houston, they play in what is probably the best division in baseball.

Grimmlokk_sl said:

I'm not saying he's in the pantheon with Ruth and Mays and them, I'm saying he's a no-brainer Hall of Famer and if you don't vote for him it has nothing to do with him and everything to do with you, and that's a problem. I don't care about Jeter himself, I care about the stupid writer assholes that pull this "No one first ballot EVER" bullshit.

Seriously, Willie fucking Mays wasn't unanimous. 23 voters looked at unarguably one of the 5 best players of all time and said 'Not on my watch!'. 20 did the same for Ted Williams. 16 for Schmidt.

edit: Ha! 43 for Micky Mantle. Nice.

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And recently, Ripken and Gwynn amongst other notables. The writers are a bunch of collective cock munchers.