The Baseball Thread

I think a new baseball thread is needed to be the place to go to talk miscellaneous baseball. The last thread kinda degenerated into an abyss of name calling.

Speaking of miscellaneous baseball stuff - Alex Rodriguez needs one more HR to tie Dave Winfield on the all-time list and two more to move into 25th place all by himself with 466. I toss this out there because I'm sure the upcoming milestone will give rise to a bunch of columns comparing the two players and their lack of success as members of the Yankees.

 

What did you think of Dice-K yesterday? I think people are getting a little too excited about how he did against a college team.

 

Jeee-zus. It's the first week of March and I'm ALREADY sick of the "Dice-K" nickname.

 

Dice did ok but your right Angola it was College kids he better have done well. I really think this will be a great year for baseball. We should have some really tight pennant races especially in the AL East and Central. The East has the perennial powerhouses the Yankees and Red Sox but don't count out the Blue Jays. The Al central is a so competitive and might be the best division in all of baseball. The Al Central has the Twins, White Sox, Tigers and Indians all teams with a very good chance at not only winning their division but could play in the World Series. Should be a fun year.

P.S please no talk about A-Rod any more, he is a tired subject and one I don't want to see discussed any further.

 

I was surprised that his fastball was only clocked at 92 mph. That kinda worries me. He was hyped as the next Pedro not the next Greg Maddux (but the Maddux comparison may be more valid).

I was also amused by NESN interviewing him after he pitched. They asked him something simple like "How did you feel out there?" which was translated - he answered - his answer was translated back into something like "I felt pretty good." It was the longest 30 seconds I can recall watching on TV in a long time.

 

Interesting point made here:

http://www.sportsfrog.com/2007/03/hgh_the_baltimore_connection.php

 

what do you guys think of the prospects of the Pittsburgh Pirates this season, the lineup looks surprisingly similar to a major league one, they have solid pitching (hopefully it doesn't fall apart), decent bullpen although I don't think Solomon Torres is the answer at closer and a good coach in Jim Tracy, could this be the year of a .500 ballclub in the 'Burgh

 

I am not saying this to be a suck up sports scrub but the Pirates could reach mediocrity this year.

 

For the past few years I would take a look at the still available free agents at the start of spring training and compare a team made up from them against the projected starters for the Pirates. This is the first year in a long time where the Pirates are clearly the better team.

 

Are you serious? He was pitching in the his first spring training game against a bunch of kids from Boston College. Let him build his arm up and see how hard he's throwing when Jeter's in the box.

 

I would love nothing more then to see a nice high hard one near Jeter.

 

This may be the best team the Pirates have had since their 1992 playoff squad, but that's in large part due to the fact that every team since has been a pile of shit.

But there are still so many places it could fall apart. They are counting on Chris Duffy to lead off just because he had two good months to finish the season (Adrian Brown, anyone?)

Freddy Sanchez and Ron Paulino both exceeded expectations last season, but it wouldn't be a shock if their numbers fell off a bit.

Even with Jason Bay and Adam LaRoche, they still don't have much power. Slight detour. More than once, I've read predictions that LaRoche's power numbers will be hurt because lefties didn't hit many homers in PNC Park last year. Obviously, none of these idiots has ever set foot inside the place. It's a great park for lefty power hitters. They just haven't had one capable of taking advantage since they traded Brian Giles. End detour.

The problem is the pitching. Zack Duke finished strong, but overall was a disappiontment last year. Ian Snell showed flashes, but he had a 4.74 ERA and often struggled to get past the 6th inning. And those are the aces of the staff.

Torres could be a disaster, too. The Pirates can't afford to have him get off to his usual terrible start now that he's closing games.

A lot of things have to go right for that team to reach .500. I'm not betting on it happening.