Off Season: 2008-2009 MLB Transition

  • Thread starter Prosthetic
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Prosthetic

Prosthetic

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United States
Marin County, C
Seeing as its the end of the 2008 season and not quite 2009 I decided make a new thread for discussing how you think next season will play out and discuss what your team is doing to prepare for 2009.

Giants signed Jeremy Affeldt from the Cincinnati Reds today to help clear up our mess of relievers. He is usually in the 3.50 ERA zone so he won't be a gas can like most of our current staff. He is signed to a 2 year 8 million dollar contract. I say good move by Sabean.

There is also rumors of the Giants picking up Rafael Furcal from the rival Dodgers. Personally this is a dumb move, we have a younger faster and best of all not a Dodger shortstop already.

I love this time of season, I like to play with what these new people are going to look like in a new uniform. I'm super amped for 2009 I just want it to happen now. Especially since baseball is the only sport I'm really into.
 
Here you go... Francisco Rodriguez agrees to a 3-year deal to go to the New York Mets. So he's going to be a fearful pitcher here in the National League along with C.C. Sabbathia (unless he joined an AL team recently).

Also, the Washington Nationals need a big-name player. So they want... Manny Ramirez. Think this deal will make the Nationals better?
 
Mark Teixiera doesn't seem to have a problem with playing bad teams, he's been talking with the Orioles and the Nationals as of late, and it looks like the Angels won't make an effort on resigning him.

I think the economic slump will have an significant effect on how much teams can spend (which means teams like the Yankees should probably think before they spend) and how players/agents negotiate deals with the teams.
 
Even still, I think the Yankees will have crazy amounts of money no matter what the economic climate. They'll throw down any number of money to land players. Just be sure to please the Yankee faithful, or the Yankee fans will voice their displeasure all over you.

We let go of Mark Loretta. Now he's a Dodger (meaning Prosthetic has someone new from the blue and white to dislike).
 
C.C. Sabathia will go from Milwaukee... to the New York Yankees. I HAVE to know what GTP's favorite Yankee fan, TopHat, thinks of this deal.
 
$161M/7-year deal for CC, for that much coin I'm sure Yankee fans will hope that Sabathia will go 9-0 in his first 10 starts...

The word going around now is that Derek Lowe or AJ Burnett may also be wearing pinstripes next year, provided that the Dodgers don't resign Lowe and Burnett doesn't get a deal with Atlanta.
 
Of course, if C.C. Sabathia doesn't do his part, the Yankee fans will let him hear it. I'd even be interested in pitching matchups in the AL including a matchup of him vs. Daisuke Matsuzaka. I'd even want to know how he'd do against my state's AL representatives, the Texas Rangers.

I think with that contract, he can opt out if he like. We'll see how it all plays out next season. I'm still a bit unsure as to why he didn't want to play back at home for either the Giants or the Athletics. I think he's a Bay Area guy. Then again, do you want two superstar pitchers on the same team like... okay. imagine this pitching lineup for the Giants- Tim Lincecum AND C.C. Sabathia. Having two big-name pitchers would make the Giants even more deadly than with just Lincecum. I love Tim Lincecum as well as Arizona's Brandon Webb. So I hope the Sabathia deal works out in NYC.
 
It may be a rare snowy day and snowy night here in Houston, but the hot stove just gets hotter. There's a three-team trade going on. It involves the New York Mets, Seattle Mariners, and Cleveland Indians. I don't know the specifics, but I think I heard that Putz from the Mariners will be heading to the Mets.
 
C.C. lives up the highway (In Vallejo) from SF which is real close. The A's don't have money which the Giants do even though we have a few expensive contracts (Winn, Rowand, Zito.) But when a team puts all the money in the world some people get goo goo eyed and go that route. To me I don't care really because we have 5 above average pitchers. Lincecum, Cain, Sanchez, Zito (if he plays like he did in the second half) and Lowry may be coming back.

Brian Sabean (Giants GM) said that Pablo Sandoval is penciled in at 3rd base and Travis Ishikawa is in at 1st base. Which for me is excellent news because they are both good hitters and they will now have a chance to bring up there net value. Shortstop is now taken by Edgar Renteria who we got as a FA from the Detroit Tigers for a 8 million 2 year contract. I'm pretty neutral about that but his hitting will be miles better then Vizquel but defensively Omar owns everyone. Second base will be a battle between Burriss and rookie Kevin Frandsen. And of coarse Molina will behind the dish again this year for the last time. BUT Buster Posey should make an appearance mid way this year (woohoo!)

My only concerns as of this moment for the Giants is the outfield. We have Fred Lewis in left, Aaron Rowand in center and Randy Winn in right but what about Nate Schierholtz? Well looks like hes going to ride the bench again this year with Sabean and Bochy completely ignoring his full potential.



The West is going to be sad again this year. Colorado has lost most of there big name players (Holliday went to the A's) have been traded or were FA's and they will now will be re-building. The Padres will be sad again but they are in the rebuilding progress. And TS's Snakes lost a ton of money going for the pennant last year. And well LA is just sad because they are Dodgers. Either, Loney and Blake can all suck it! :D Manny hasn't been a threat to us because he just strikes out like a fool. Whiffing at Brian Wilsons 100mph 2-seem was great :lol: and then watching the same pitch go right down the middle striking him out.

To me I think the west will be a 2 man fight between the Snakes and Giants.

Happy hunting TS. 👍 Better you then the Dodgers... REMEMBER THAT THIS YEAR!
 
Consider this an NL roundup.

I was so disappointed with the Padres as far as NL West action goes. They're usually pretty competitive. Giants and D-Backs should be strong contenders unless the boys in Denver have anything to say about it.

My Astros haven't been to the playoffs since 2005. We're going to need to have a full rotation at least half as good as NL Central teams like St. Louis and last postseason's epic fail known as the Chicago Cubs. Pittsburgh was really surprising to me. I think Pitt will be hosting next season's All-Star Game. I think of PNC Park the same way I think of AT&T Park- beautiful. Kind of the AT&T Park of the east coast, though I'm such a sucker for San Francisco. PNC Park is lovely, and so is the team that plays their home games there.

All eyes in the NL will be on Philadelphia. I think my Astros deserve to pay them back by pounding them after last year's debacle when we led 3-0 heading into the Bottom of the 9th, when Jose Valverde's poor pitching had us lose 4-3. I don't see anyone in the NL East even putting up a decent fight against Philadelphia unless you're the Atlanta Braves. Maybe the Mets heat things up this season in the NL East, but Philadelphia's plenty strong. Especially when you have my beloved Chase Utley pounding out runs and hits.



Just an NL roundup. Anyone care to offer opinions about the AL or respond to my NL chatter?
 
JohnBM01
Of course, if C.C. Sabathia doesn't do his part, the Yankee fans will let him hear it. I'd even be interested in pitching matchups in the AL including a matchup of him vs. Daisuke Matsuzaka. I'd even want to know how he'd do against my state's AL representatives, the Texas Rangers.
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A better match up; Cliff Lee and Sabathia.

JohnBM01
I think with that contract, he can opt out if he like. We'll see how it all plays out next season.
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He can opt out after 3 years, yet he also has a no-trade clause.

Prosthetic
And TS's Snakes lost a ton of money going for the pennant last year.
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We spent way too much money last year trying to repeat the 90 win season in '07, we traded away a lot of good prospects and draft picks to get guys that produced less than stellar numbers (Jon Rauch & David Eckstien) and their effects are already showing.

They have already let Randy Johnson become a free agent. they're also trying to find takers for Adam Dunn & Orlando Hudson, there's no chance that we could pay for both of them at $10-15M a year for at least 4 years. And hopes of bringing O-Dog back have pretty much died, D-Backs signed FA Felipe Lopez to a 1-year deal and given Augie Ojeda a contract extension through next year, it'll be more than likely that Ojeda & Lopez will share 2nd next year unless if something incredible happens with Hudson.

Even then the problems aren't all fixed, there are some big holes in the bullpen, all I know right now is that Chad Qualls looks to return as the closer next year, but other than that the bullpen is in shambles, Brandon Lyon did a decent job closing early in the season, but started to walk everybody and it got to a point where Melvin made him the setup man in the 8th, same thing with Jon Rauch, he was lights out when he came over from Washington, but then his ERA skyrocketed and everybody was knocking him around.

Prosthetic
Happy hunting TS. 👍 Better you then the
Dodgers... REMEMBER THAT THIS YEAR!
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Better anybody than the Dodgers!
 
Well, my previous post was on the Yankees/Red Sox matchups. That's what I meant there.
 
The Yankees now have one of the best rotations in baseball. :sly:

Burnett: 5 years, 82.5 million.
Ignore the injury history, please. D:
 
TopHat
The Yankees now have one of the best rotations in baseball. :sly:

Burnett: 5 years, 82.5 million.
Ignore the injury history, please. D:
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Burnett has always been highly overrated. I'm not saying that because I dislike him (because I don't) but he is not a 16.5 million a year pitcher. He had a 4.07 ERA... thats not 16.5 million.

But it's the Yankees.. they overpay to get players. I wish Sabean kind of just put up the 100 million 6 year deal and he would of excepted, then we could win every game on pitching alone :D
 
Dude is awesomely underrated because people think he's overrated because he's always injured. But he's not always injured and even if he is, he still pitches 150 innings and he's awesome. This isn't an overpayment at all. I think it's a great deal.

The Phillies are beyond stupid, though. They let Burrell go and don't offer him arbitration. Then they sign Raul Ibanez. So they let a better player go, don't even bother attempted to pick up two extra draft picks by offering him arb, and then lose a first round pick by signing Raul Ibanez who will be 39 in the final year of his contract? This team won the World Series? Ugh.
 
The Phillies really wern't the best last team this past season... hell the Giants won almost every single game against them.
 
Mark Teixeira is supposedly "close" to making a deal with either the Angels, Orioles, Nationals, Red Sox or Yankees.
 
I keep hearing Texiera to the Nationals. If so, that gives the Nats some leverage on the mound. Texiera's a pretty good pitcher. I'm sure he'll improve almost any roster. Not to sound like a homer, but part of his name is "Tex." Why not my Astros? Have to have some solid pitching to accompany Roy Oswalt.
 
Goes to show you I'm not much a baseball guy. Doesn't mean I should stop trying. Well, Texiera's going to make some team pretty happy (so long as it isn't the Yankees or Red Sox).
 
Well the Yankees asked New York for money for their stadium... then they go and spend 240 million on 2 players then turn around and spend another 200 million on another player? This is tax payers dollars... not cool.
 
Former Astros closer, Dave Smith, died at age 53 from a heart attack today. He was one of the best closers in the '80s for the Astros. Sad deal. First we lose Joe Nierko, now we lose him. Sad for Astros fans.
 
O's and Nats look to be out of the hunt for Teixeira, which leaves the Angels, Red Sox and Yankees left in the running.
 
The Astros signed 3B Eric Boone to a one-year deal after parting ways with Ty Wiggington. We still need to get solid pitching as well as consistent hitting and slugging. Most of our usual suspects can do such a thing. We just need more talent to compete in the National League against teams like the Cubs, Cardinals, Phillies, Diamondbacks, and others. That even includes any good AL teams we'll take on in Interleague play next season.
 
Mark Teixeira is now a Yankee. The Yanks got money as well as a passion to make it to and win the World Series. If this makes them better, then the Yankees will be a team to watch.
 
I wasn't expecting the Yankees to sign Tex, I figured that the Angels and Red Sox were the only two teams that really wanted to go after him.

But hey, the Yankees might as well fix all their problems, first with the pitching, now with filling the hole at first base.
 
Can't wait to see the Yankees fail next season!!


Giants 09!!!!

I'm kind of sick of Yankees fans acting like its mandatory for them to make the playoffs. Even ESPN (Eastcoast Sports Propaganda Network) says the Yankees are spoiled! And I say East Coast Propaganda Network because almost every headline they have has Boston RedSocks or New York Yankees in it.
 

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