Major League Baseball: 2017 Season

  • Thread starter JohnBM01
  • 429 comments
  • 12,969 views
JohnBM01

JohnBM01

20 years!
Premium
26,259
United States
Houston, Texas, USA
JMarine25
"...and the Chicago Cubs have won the World Series!"

No, this is not a recording of the 1908 World Series. That was the 2016 World Series. The Cubs felt like Mount Everest was lifted off of their shoulders having reversed a century-long (and change) drought of championship glory by defeating the Cleveland Indians in the full seven game distance. Now the Cubs know that 29 other teams want to reach the top of the mountain like the Cubs have. Can the Cubbies repeat? Or will there be a new champion?

What will it take to reach that top? For starters, it begins with setting up deals and signing quality players. The wheeling and dealing is what we'd like to call the Hot Stove. Something's always cooking in the offseason, and I'm not talking about good old Texas barbecue (maybe I'm biased). You then get into Spring Training to try to warm up for the upcoming season. After that, it's 162 games of the good, the bad, and the ugly. There's also an All-Star Game pitting the best players of the season. If you're good enough, you might even win your division of the American League or the National League. Or you may have to try to notch up a Wild Card berth for either league. Now comes the MLB playoffs. You have the Divisional Series, then the Championship Series, and finally- the World Series. Only after the World Series will we know who the best team in baseball is for 2017. Who will that team be? We'll find out all season long.


So welcome to the new season of Major League Baseball here on GTPlanet! This is the all-in-one post regarding 2017 baseball. It's from offseason notes to the final game of the World Series and even postseason awards (if you like). Good luck to all of your favorite teams.
 
Yoenis Cespedes has signed a 4 year, 110 million deal with the Mets.
 
That signing will be a big help for the Mets. Maybe they can retain their 2016 form and go better this upcoming season.
 
THIS JUST IN...

Major League Baseball and the MLB Players' Association have agreed to a new labor deal, based on multiple reports. So we won't be seeing something like a lockout or anything. There won't be a situation where games are going to be dropped and have an abbreviated season like with the NBA and NHL previously. This is always good news.
 
According to some of the latest talks in the new CBA, Home-Field Advantage will now go to the pennant winner who has the best record. It used to be that the League that wins the All-Star Game would have home field advantage in the World Series. Now you'd better hope you've won more games than your World Series counterpart. But I wonder... what if both teams that play for the World Series have the same amount of wins? Like, what if the World Series came down to (and I'm just picking teams at random) Detroit and St. Louis and if both teams have 88 wins. Who'd get Home Field? Do you have a one-game playoff to determine home field? I don't know how that would work if in the event of a tie.
 
JohnBM01
According to some of the latest talks in the new CBA, Home-Field Advantage will now go to the pennant winner who has the best record. It used to be that the League that wins the All-Star Game would have home field advantage in the World Series. Now you'd better hope you've won more games than your World Series counterpart. But I wonder... what if both teams that play for the World Series have the same amount of wins? Like, what if the World Series came down to (and I'm just picking teams at random) Detroit and St. Louis and if both teams have 88 wins. Who'd get Home Field? Do you have a one-game playoff to determine home field? I don't know how that would work if in the event of a tie.
Click to expand...
Might go by placing in playoffs as first tie-breaker.
 
Carlos Beltran has done a lot of damage with the New York Yankees. However, lately, he's coming back to the Houston Astros. He signed a 1-year deal with about $16M USD. I think this is very cool for the 'Stros.
 
Chris Sale has been traded to the Boston Red Sox for a package headlined by Yoan Moncada
 
I think that's a big deal, Blitz24. Chris Sale is super solid. This is an easy way to bolster your pitching rotation. I don't know... maybe this will make Boston a bit more dangerous this upcoming season. It will surely boost the already deep talent in the AL East. But yeah- this is a pretty big deal, at least to me.
 
:banghead: The Rangers are apparently wanting Colby Lewis to return to the rotation. Lewis went 6-5 with a 3.17 ERA in 19 starts with the team last year but he is also 37 and missed two and a half months due to an inflamed right shoulder. Also to consider that over the past five years, Lewis has had surgery on his elbow, hip and knee. 🤬 🤬!
 
I'm not surprised that the Pirates decided not to trade Andrew McCutchen. There's no way that a rational, playoff contending franchise would ever surrender it's star player after one bad season. Give up Cutch, and you have another two seasons of rebuilding.

Besides, the trade rumors are merely motivators for McCutchen. This year will be huge for the Pirates, and I feel that we may finally have a team that could make a deep run into the playoffs. First, we'll have to fight through the competitive division, the Cardinals and especially the Cubs are going to be roadblocks and a resurgent Reds and Brewers aren't out of the question.
 
If Andrew McCutchen got traded, that Pirates offense is going to take a serious hit. Who would you bring in to replace McCutchen if he were to be traded? So I'm glad they held onto him.
 
What did the Rangers do after rumors that they want Colby Lewis back in the rotation? Sign Carlos Gomez to a one-year deal worth $11.5 million. He reportedly passed up on multi-year deals elsewhere to remain in Texas.

Also, the Rangers traded away RHP Luke Jackson to the Atlanta Braves for prospects Tyrell Jenkins and Brady Feigl. Jackson pitched 18 innings in 15 games over two seasons with the Rangers, posting an 8.50 ERA, surrendering 27 hits and 17 runs, all of them earned, 5 HR. Opposing batters were hitting .346.

Jenkins will be assigned to the 40 man roster and Feigl will be assigned to Double-A Frisco Rough Riders.
 
Last edited:
Round Rock is AA now? They used to be the AAA team of the Astros. It was also the Rangers' Triple-A team.

J. Familia's domestic violence charges were dropped yesterday. I forgot to add that note yesterday about the Mets' pitcher.
 
JohnBM01
Round Rock is AA now? They used to be the AAA team of the Astros. It was also the Rangers' Triple-A team.

J. Familia's domestic violence charges were dropped yesterday. I forgot to add that note yesterday about the Mets' pitcher.
Click to expand...


Round Rock is still the Rangers' Triple-A affiliate, Nashville plays them to open next season.
 
The Bman
I'm not surprised that the Pirates decided not to trade Andrew McCutchen. There's no way that a rational, playoff contending franchise would ever surrender it's star player after one bad season. Give up Cutch, and you have another two seasons of rebuilding.

Besides, the trade rumors are merely motivators for McCutchen. This year will be huge for the Pirates, and I feel that we may finally have a team that could make a deep run into the playoffs. First, we'll have to fight through the competitive division, the Cardinals and especially the Cubs are going to be roadblocks and a resurgent Reds and Brewers aren't out of the question.
Click to expand...
Hopefully this will light a fire under his ass and we will be able to ship him out by the trade deadline. Every time I see him flailing away at a pitch off the plate and then sulking his way back to the dugout like a kid dragging his bat I want to throw something at the TV. I do however think he was playing with some kind of injury(s) last year that it wouldnt surprise me we hear he had surgery in the off-season.

Contender? The rotation is still a huge question mark and the loss of Serpico and Joyce will be huge. I think as of now we are the 3rd place team with 81-85 wins and could be in the WC hunt, but a long way off of the Cubs and the self appointed cream of the crop, STL.


JohnBM01
If Andrew McCutchen got traded, that Pirates offense is going to take a serious hit. Who would you bring in to replace McCutchen if he were to be traded? So I'm glad they held onto him.
Click to expand...
Until the top prospect Austin Meadows in the system is ready (July at the earliest) Josh Bell would likely move from 1B to RF with Marte to CF and Polanco from RF to LF. If Cutch is still on the team when camp opens I would still move the OF'ers and put him in RF because his CF play is awful. Hurdle treats Cutch with kid gloves so it would surprise me if he actually makes the move to RF, our .240 hitter batted in the 1st inning every game this year when he should have dropped to 6th or 7th. It was only after he was benched for 3 games in Atlanta that he started hitting, .280 in Aug and .287 in Sept/Oct.

FWIW I picked the Buccos to win 100 games last yr and the Cubs to finish .500 and in 3rd place so...:embarrassed: :D
 
I think I learned from yesterday that Colby Rasmus will go from my Houston Astros to play for the Tampa Bay Rays. "Colby Jack" (as we call him when he hits a home run) will give the Rays some more firepower.
 
I didn't think to actually check about Brady Feigl's assignment. He was assigned to Double-A Frisco. Sorry for the confusion everyone.
 
To avoid arbitration, my Houston Astros re-signed pitcher Dallas Keuchel to a one-year deal. Dallas wasn't as baller pitching for the Astros last season, but he's still solid talent. It's a good thing we'll hold on to the Arkansas Razorback. Maybe Dallas Keuchel will put up some better numbers in the 2017 season.
 
IforceV8
Hopefully this will light a fire under his ass and we will be able to ship him out by the trade deadline. Every time I see him flailing away at a pitch off the plate and then sulking his way back to the dugout like a kid dragging his bat I want to throw something at the TV. I do however think he was playing with some kind of injury(s) last year that it wouldnt surprise me we hear he had surgery in the off-season.

Contender? The rotation is still a huge question mark and the loss of Serpico and Joyce will be huge. I think as of now we are the 3rd place team with 81-85 wins and could be in the WC hunt, but a long way off of the Cubs and the self appointed cream of the crop, STL.


Until the top prospect Austin Meadows in the system is ready (July at the earliest) Josh Bell would likely move from 1B to RF with Marte to CF and Polanco from RF to LF. If Cutch is still on the team when camp opens I would still move the OF'ers and put him in RF because his CF play is awful. Hurdle treats Cutch with kid gloves so it would surprise me if he actually makes the move to RF, our .240 hitter batted in the 1st inning every game this year when he should have dropped to 6th or 7th. It was only after he was benched for 3 games in Atlanta that he started hitting, .280 in Aug and .287 in Sept/Oct.

FWIW I picked the Buccos to win 100 games last yr and the Cubs to finish .500 and in 3rd place so...:embarrassed: :D
Click to expand...
The issue with Pittsburgh is that the field is catching up to them while the Cubs are pulling away. At the moment, the following teams are going to be competing for the WC:
Definitely: San Francisco, St. Louis
Probably: New York, Pittsburgh
Possibly: Atlanta (if they really jump forward), Colorado (the team has power, pitching is still a puzzle), Miami (loss of Fernandez is huge step backwards), Milwaukee (least likely of the 4).

One of the two teams ahead will have to falter and the Mets will need to run into injury problems again (shouldn't be hard, their team is so fragile) for them to make the playoffs. However, in a short series, I don't think the Pirates have the pitching, especially the bullpen, to compete with Chicago. I honestly only think that the Giants, Nationals or Dodgers could pose a serious threat to Chicago in a short series, with the Mets close behind (fun fact: the Mets with Cespedes in their lineup have never lost a game to the Cubs).
 
Word has it that José Bautista will return to the Toronto Blue Jays. So Joey Bats will roll with the Blue Jays to do his damage. He'll surely be a factor in the vastly competitive AL East.
 
Jeff Bagwell finally made the Baseball Hall of Fame. Baggy was among one of the ones that comprised the "Killer B's" for the Houston Astros. Also of mention are Tim Raines and Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez (once with the Astros). So we got Biggio and Bagwell in the Hall of Fame as part of that ballin' "Killer B's." That even includes the 1998 Houston Astros- the only time the team had a win total north of 100.

So obviously, I'm proud for Baggy to make the Hall of Fame.


Outside of the latest Baseball Hall of Fame news, I read the deal for José Bautista's deal is worth $18M USD with the Toronto Blue Jays.
 
Pudge was always one of my favorites when he came here. He really helped lead the turn around which lead to Detroit becoming a strong team in the Jim Leyland era. I'm glad he made it to the hall.
 
Ex-Major Leaguer Andy Marte died in a car crash today in the Dominican Republic at the age of 33.
Kansas City Royals P Yordano Ventura died in a car crash today in the Dominican Republic at the age of 25.
 
My condolences go out to both fallen players.

On a happier and more lighthearted note, we had Astros Fan Day back on yesterday. Fans here are aurely hopeful we can have a better run in 2017 than we did in 2016. The Astros have to CONTEND with the better AL (and even NL) teams and not concede to the likes of the Yankees, Red Sox, Rangers, Tigers, or any teams like that.
 
As consequence of one St. Louis Cardinal personnel's tomfoolery, the Houston Astros picked up $2M USD and two first-round MLB Draft picks today. So this is sort of closure from this one Cardinal hacker. It is still a most interesting situation.

Elsewhere, I heard the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim signed former Astros pitcher/closer Bud Norris. I think his previous team was the Baltimore Orioles.
 
Decided to share some gems of old baseball games that I found on Youtube. If you got the time or want to see the amazing team that NBC had covering baseball in the 80's (Costas! Scully! Albert! Enberg!) then here you go:







 

Latest Posts

Back