Slight bump on the road. But when he clicks, he clicks.
I dunno about decline. But, after his injury last year, he came back throwing fire. And he started out pretty damn well in spring training this year until the back spasm.
He’s my pick for wild card pitcher in this rotation. Aside from the injuries, he’s been throwing pretty well this spring training. I hope it translates into the season.
I’m usually not one to trust Japanese pitching. I would rather wait until the regular season to judge him.
Well, his pitching method is unique. He’s had three straight seasons where he’s been lights out. Last year being his strongest, I think he has the ability to repeat what he did last year. Especially since all he goes for are groundballs. He basically a much better version of Tim Wakefield.
Well, the Phillies did finish, what, second in the wild card race? They’re proven to be a strong team. And they seem to have the makings for a successful run. Should they take advantage of a weak NL East, they can go all the way to the first round. They’ll have to go through the Dodgers and the Cubs. With Sweet Lou behind the Cubs, that team is gonna be on fire. Especially with Soriano on that team.
lol @ the Mets for fucking up. They’ll have to score 10 runs every game just to win. And it probably WAS Phillips that made that trade.
BTW, Eric Gagne in Texas. WTF?! This season is proving to top last years. I know the Brewers made a lot of hush-hush trades over the winter and their squad is looking mighty decent.
I’m trying to figure out how “Wang is our ace” and “I wouldn’t really call our rotation average” belong in the same discussion coming from the same person. Moose is the only ace-caliber pitcher the Yankees have, and he’s probably not at that caliber. Pettitte is one of the most overrated players in baseball. In any four year period, he’s great one year, awful one year, and pretty much dead average for two years, yet he gets treated like an ace for some reason when he’s clearly not. Speaking of overrated, Carl Pavano has had one good season. I don’t mean with the Yankees. I mean, in 10 years in the majors, he has had exactly ONE season in which he was a good pitcher and didn’t miss at least a third of the year. And Wang? Wang’s a good pitcher. He’s basically Mark Buehrle Lite. Thing is, those sinkerball pitchers who never, ever, ever strike anybody out eventually eventually get figured out, and the Yanks aren’t exactly running gold glovers out at every position. Igawa hopes to be a league average pitcher in his first MLB season, and it’d be outrageous for anybody to expect better of him at this point.
Actually, you’re right, Lint. Calling this staff average at this point is being a bit too complimentary.
As for the Phils, they have really high end talent on the top. The rest is…not reliable. Howard, Utley and Rollins make for an excellent infield. Helms isn’t any thing special, but the Phils were running David freaking Bell out there for years, so whatever. Burrell/Victorino/Rowand has the potential to be truly awful in the outfield. The staff is really strong at the top (Myers/Hamels) and “meh” at the bottom (Garcia/Moyer/Eaton, a group of has-beens/never-weres, but at least they’re proven mediocre). They could go all White Sox 2005 and be great with career years around, but they could just as easily not. I’m a lot more comfortable picking the Mets in the East, or hell, even the Braves. Watch out for Florida, too. As unexpected as their performance was last year, keep in mind that most of their players are on the upswing. Nolasco, Johnson, Sanchez will all be better pitchers in the future than in '06. Ramirez is going to be an outright stud at SS. Cabrera is one of the top 5 hitters in baseball, and he had a down year last season in the power department. Jeremy Hermida had his rookie year ruined by injuries, but he’s kind of a faster Cabrera clone in terms of minor league production. I expect huge things out of him. A couple of the other guys could slip a bit, but I have Florida targeted for 75-85 wins this season, which, depending on how far the leader runs out, could keep them in the race all season.
Seeing as he made his MLB debut in mid-2005, I don’t think his lights-out minor league performance is really relevant. (he wasn’t, by the way). It’s quite possible he can repeat what he did last year. I wouldn’t bet on it, though. He’s a good pitcher, but he’s no ace.
I’m a Cubs fan, but my excitement about the team isn’t strictly Lou/Soriano. it’s no more Pierre, Murton playing every day, and having a healthy DLee again. That’s going to make a huge difference in getting guys on, which is what kept the offense from being any good. Also, not depending on Wood or Prior to start takes a lot of pressure off, and last season exposed Rich Hill as a very dangerous weapon in the rotation, so that’s something to look forward to. I still hate the marquis signing. That was ridiculous.
That trade was awful. I think you underestimate the quality of the Mets’ pitching, though. I think it’s about on par with the Yankees, with higher ceiling potential in Pelfrey and Maine. Pelfrey was a beast at every level but MLB in his first professional season last year. Maine was very good last season when he started, and if anybody falls off, they have Heilman who can step into the rotation. For a squad that lost one of the greatest pitchers of all time in Pedro, that’s not too bad.
live fantasy draft today at 630 pm!!! hopefully most people can make it.
free.
log onto yahoo and go to the homepage for our league at around 630 pst. on the homepage it’ll say you can enter the live draft. everyone is assigned a draft pick number which is the order we pick in. if the team manager is there then they pick whatever player they want. if the manager is not there and it’s their turn, yahoo will pick the highest ranked player on the pre rank list. we just pick players until all the spots on our team are filled. you can leave at anytime if you’re done picking and let yahoo pick the rest of your team for you.
You should have pre-ranked your players. That way the system would automatically picked the highest available players for you. You may or may not get a crappy team based on how it goes. But after that you can trade, release, sign, ect.
yahoo hates me. 10/12 pick for this draft and 14/16 for the basketball draft. one pick lower and i could have built around ortiz but had to take utley at 10th pick.
heh. i wasn’t even at the draft but my team doesn’t look that bad. i might still win this division. the only thing i don’t like about my team are the pitchers. got a couple that i never heard of before
sports illustrated picked the angels to win it all this year. i have to say i agree with them. but damn colon is on DL already. things not looking good for the halos. Gil meche is pitching well right now. making all those people shut their mouths about him being the most over paid player in history. 55 million dollar contract but he’s shutting down the redsox right now.
Man i love this time of year when baseball starts.
Fuck your Blue Jays. That was only because of Halladay Magic. Seriously.
A-Rod, Jeter and Phelps all contributed to the Devil Rays 5 runs. All errors. Damnit all. A-Rod did make up for that with a homerun. I guess it’s the high socks that are doing it. MYSTIQUE, SON!!!
And of course, the Captain is who came through in the clutch once more to bring us back into the game and Bobby A. providing the lead run with A-Rod steal assist. Too fucking good.
The bullpen is dope so far. But, it’s the Devil Rays, so I can’t jump to any conclusions right now.
Contreras got BOMBED THE FUCK UP against the Indians. The Indians are looking like serious business this year.
Interesting. I viewed the Angels as a team that is falling apart and rebuilding all at once. Guess I’ll have to watch Baseball Tonight esta noche. YES! Baseball Tonight, motherfuckers!!! GET HYPED!!!