2009 Baseball Thread, Part 1: The Adventures of Ozzie and Sadaharu Oh

The 2009 opener is less than 43 hours away. Time to ramp up!

 

Re: 2009 Baseball Thread, Part 1: Let's Get It Started

Oldest major leaguers who were active at the end of the 2008 season and haven't declared retirement (courtesy of SoSH):

Jamie Moyer: is 46, turns 47 on Nov. 18
Randy Johnson: turns 47 on Sept. 10
Mike Timlin: turned 43 on March 10
Tom Glavine: turned 43 on March 25th
Tim Wakefield: turns 43 on August 2

So take heart, all you spares on this board!

 

Re: 2009 Baseball Thread, Part 1: Let's Get It Started

The amazing fucking thing about Moyer is he's almost certainly going to be a four-decade player...who began his career in the mid-80s. Most four-decade guys got a cup of coffee in a year ending in 9. Not Moyer.

 

Re: 2009 Baseball Thread, Part 1: Let's Get It Started

I was watching the Cubs play on WGN the day he made his debut in 1986.

 

Re: 2009 Baseball Thread, Part 1: Let's Get It Started

Color me excited. I just hope there aren't many rainouts. Heard it is supposed to rain in Boston, anyone know a forecast for Baltimore?

 

Re: 2009 Baseball Thread, Part 1: Let's Get It Started

How badly did they lose?

 

Re: 2009 Baseball Thread, Part 1: Let's Get It Started

As a fanboi looser of the Tribe, try as I might, I can't get pumped up about this season.

Yeah, it's an odd-numbered year and the boys have traditionally done very well (starting with 1995, anyway) looking at that rotation makes me want to... well, hurl.

 

Re: 2009 Baseball Thread, Part 1: Let's Get It Started

Following up on the Sheffield-to-the-Mets discussion on the Spring Training thread, the biggest concern is (as BYH noted) the slugger poisoning an already fragile clubhouse. After that, does he still have bat speed? Can he still play the outfield?

 

Re: 2009 Baseball Thread, Part 1: Let's Get It Started

It's hard to have that much of a negative effect when you have no power, no leverage. It's kind of like Marbury going to the Celtics -- Sheffield's not important enough to poison the Mets' clubhouse. First sign of trouble and he's gone. As for whether he can still hit or play the OF, who knows? But it's worth $400K to find out.

 

Re: 2009 Baseball Thread, Part 1: Let's Get It Started

All this "poison in the clubhouse" and "clubhouse cancer" stuff is way overrated. If he hits, everything will be fine. If not, he'll be released and it won't matter. Sheff is proud and stubborn in his views sometimes but he's also a guy who will go out of his way for people he likes and trusts. Anyone remember him taking one of the Yankees' clubhouse kids to the All-Star Game a few years ago? I don't see him as a problem at all. If he doesn't hit well and gets benched, however, they should release him rather than have him gripe about not playing enough because he will speak his mind and there's enough media in New York that it will become a bigger issue than it really is.

 

Re: 2009 Baseball Thread, Part 1: Let's Get It Started

Braves name 22-year-old Schafer as their starting center fielder. Hmmm....

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090403&content_id=4119394&vkey=news_atl&fext=.jsp&c_id=atl&partnerId=rss_atl