MLB (Baseball)

[Remi Moses]

Re: MLB (Baseball)

Watched a bit of Catching Hell the other day. Terribly sad and tragic story .

[Sockeye Salmon]

Re: MLB (Baseball)

Internet Meme or Occupyxxx?

I've only just got the occupy thingy from the latest protests (I assume it's just a catchcry for protesters?)

What's a meme?

[The Underdog]

Re: MLB (Baseball)

Longer answers can be given, but basically the mlb model is highly unequal. There is no salary cap, and teams derive most of their money from tv rights deals. Bigger market teams like the Yankees and Red Sox have payrolls for their players in excess of $150 million, while small market teams might have payrolls as low as the $30 millions. It's a huge disparity, and the best free agents tend to be snapped up by the biggest clubs. The Red Sox paid San Diego's best player, Adrian Gonzalez $20 million plus, more than half of what San Diego the total player payments San Diego made this year.

The saving grace, is that loading up on free agents is no guarantee of success. The draft order is determined like the AFL's, and smaller market teams can invest in the draft and put together a relatively competitive, relatively sustainable team.

Teams are not allowed to offer deals to players under contract - in what is termed anti-tampering laws. But the fact that teams can offer deals to non-players eg managers and general managers is crazy, and further weighted in favour of the bigger teams.



Agree with Underdog to a certain extent on both points. But Tampa Bay is one of the few under-resourced clubs that manages to regularly compete. Major League Baseball is not as ridiculously unfair as EPL might be, but there are serious reasons to believe that the NFL has surpassed MLB as America's biggest sport because of the relative success of its equalisation strategies.

I'm not going to argue that the system is in any way fair. Anytime a team can spend $100 million more on it's team than another then it patently isn't. EPL and big European soccer leagues were definitely uppermost in my thoughts regarding less equal situations. I do think that the nature and structure of the season and the depth required to build a team in baseball allows teams to compete successfully with far less resources. The Cubs have thrown money at free agents for years and it's usually got them nowhere and if anything the rebuild required will take Epstein and Hoyer 3-4 years to achieve. The NFL surpassing MLB as America's team has a lot more to do with the immediacy and physicality of the game itself and the religion of "Sundays" then any equalisation that's gone on in my opinion.
Baseball hasn't been totally ignored attempts at equalisation either but the ability of some teams to make local TV deals (or have their own TV stations) makes a huge difference.but I've heard a few compelling arguments against a salary cap in baseball.

[The Underdog]

Re: MLB (Baseball)

On a brighter note the World Series is now tied 2-2 with Derek Holland throwing a gem today. Taken out in the ninth but was still throwing 95 mph at that point.

Albert Pujols 3HR game in game 3 was unbelievable. The man's a freak and the Cards have to sign him (which will prevent the Cubs from doing so). He's worth a twice as much to that franchise as he'd be to anybody else. Cards have the pitching advantage in game 5. I wonder if it goes to 7 if the Rangers will bring Holland back to pitch it. He's got to be a better bet than Harrison.

[westdog54]

Re: MLB (Baseball)

I've only just got the occupy thingy from the latest protests (I assume it's just a catchcry for protesters?)

What's a meme?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_meme

The term Internet meme (pronounced /ˈmiːm/; meem)[1] is used to describe a concept that spreads via the Internet.[2] The term is a reference to the concept of memes, although the latter concept refers to a much broader category of cultural information.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Internet_phenomena

[Mantis]

Re: MLB (Baseball)

On a brighter note the World Series is now tied 2-2 with Derek Holland throwing a gem today. Taken out in the ninth but was still throwing 95 mph at that point.

Albert Pujols 3HR game in game 3 was unbelievable. The man's a freak and the Cards have to sign him (which will prevent the Cubs from doing so). He's worth a twice as much to that franchise as he'd be to anybody else. Cards have the pitching advantage in game 5. I wonder if it goes to 7 if the Rangers will bring Holland back to pitch it. He's got to be a better bet than Harrison.

A couple of dumb questions from a noob....

What is the usual rest period between starts for starting pitchers?

Does this change much between the regular and post season?

[Doc26]

Re: MLB (Baseball)

Albert Pujols 3HR game in game 3 was unbelievable. The man's a freak and the Cards have to sign him (which will prevent the Cubs from doing so). He's worth a twice as much to that franchise as he'd be to anybody else. Cards have the pitching advantage in game 5. I wonder if it goes to 7 if the Rangers will bring Holland back to pitch it. He's got to be a better bet than Harrison.

Agree, was amazing to sit back and watch Pujols in Game 3. They put a stat up saying how with that performance he had tied with Babe Ruth and Reggie Jackson for HRs in a World Series game. No doubt his RBIs would've been pretty high as well.

[anfo27]

Re: MLB (Baseball)

A couple of dumb questions from a noob....

What is the usual rest period between starts for starting pitchers?

Does this change much between the regular and post season?

regular season pitchers pitch every 5 days. Post season can be anywhere between from 4 days rest to 2 days rest depending on the situation.

[Remi Moses]

Re: MLB (Baseball)

What a season Mike Napoli is having . Two run double, throwing out base stealers!
Great coverage as well

[The Underdog]

Re: MLB (Baseball)

I know they're up 3-2 but how the Rangers haven't put Beltre in the 3rd spot and dropped Hamilton who is clearly hurt, down the order confuses me. Cruz or Napoli would probably be better in the 4 spot than Young at this point too.
You're right Remi, Napoli has been unbelievable. and the Angels traded him because Scoscia didn't like his defense.

[The Underdog]

Re: MLB (Baseball)

Looking forward to watching Game 5. Keith Law tweeted that it was one of the worst managed games he's ever seen.

[Jasper]

Re: MLB (Baseball)

Looking forward to watching Game 5. Keith Law tweeted that it was one of the worst managed games he's ever seen.

Unbelievable game today. Cards have scored two runs in the 9th and in the 10th to keep it alive.
The tension, the drama, the buzz..........

[anfo27]

Re: MLB (Baseball)

WOW. What an unbelievable World Series we are witnessing. I think you don't even have to be a baseball fan to be loving this drama filled, thrill a minute, edge of your seat, battle of the titans, winner take all finale. Hats off to both teams for giving it everything and inturn creating such a spectacle.
I saw the vision of Napoli rolling his ankle and it did not look good, great effort to keep going and picking off Holiday at 3rd.
So much for Texas having such a quality bullpen, this pen is leaking like a sieve in this series. That damn Ogando owned Detroit but he can't seem to get the job done now.
I know what you mean Underdog wean you talk about about Wash being an rdinary manager. The Rangers had bases loaded, 2 outs in the 5th with Lewis stepping up to the plate and he didn't pinch hit for him. For the life of me I can't understand why he would leave him in there.
Looking forward to game 7, hopefully another cracker.

[Raw Toast]

Re: MLB (Baseball)

It was an extraordinary game. Crazy stuff, with tactics enlivened by the absence of a designated hitter. Will game 7 go into extra innings as well?

[anfo27]

Re: MLB (Baseball)

I'm watching MLB.com and Sean Casey has chosen the Rangers to take game 7. So far in the World Series Sean Casey is 0/6 in his predictions, put the house on St. Louis to win.