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Official 2011 MLB Thread - Scott Proctor on to get some posts in

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Pujols got thrown out for arguing the third strike for about 1 second. Pretty weak ejection, La Russa went out to argue and they're saying he might be ejected too, but the ump didn't signal for either.

Fuck, inning's over.

edit: broadcasters were wrong, pujols is still in. la russas gone though.
 
Blown call there, Schumaker was out.
Bring him home Descalso...he doesn't get enough credit. He's brought in so many late clutch runs this year. Can he do it again?!

EDIT: BOO YA, DID IT AGAIN
 
Nard Bagman said:
Pujols got thrown out for arguing the third strike for about 1 second. Pretty weak ejection, La Russa went out to argue and they're saying he might be ejected too, but the ump didn't signal for either.

Fuck, inning's over.

edit: broadcasters were wrong, pujols is still in. la russas gone though.
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He did jump around and scream.
 
clemenx said:
What the fuck at the Kyle Lohse's numbers this season? What kind of sorcery does Dave Duncan practice?
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He was good in his first season as a Card too. The talent is there. Injuries have been an issue the past 2 seasons but looks like he's healthy now.

He's definitely going to regress some though. He's not this good.
 
Most stat people believe managers don't really matter all that much, leave it to the A's of all teams to prove them wrong by hiring Bob Geren:

Fuentes criticizes “unorthodox managing”

Fuentes’ communication with reporters following tonight’s game:

What did you think of the situation you were placed in tonight?

Fuentes: It’s surprising yet not surprising all at the same time.

How do you feel with the way the manager has handled you as a reliever?

Fuentes: Pretty poorly.

How much communication do you have with him?

Fuentes: Zero.

Why is it pretty poorly?

Fuentes: There’s just no communication. Two games, on the road, bring the closer in a tied game, with no previous discussions of doing so. And then, tonight, in the seventh inning, I get up. I haven’t stretched, I haven’t prepared myself. If there was some communication beforehand I would be ready to come into the game – which I was, when I came into the game, I was ready. Just lack of communication. I don’t think anybody really knows which direction he’s headed.

How much different is this compared to past managers?

Fuentes: It’s a pretty drastic difference.

What goes through your mind when the phone rings in the seventh tonight?

Fuentes: I thought he misspoke. I thought it was some sort of miscommunication, but he said, ‘No, you’re up,’ so I got up and cranked it up. You can’t try to guess along with them. Very unpredictable.

At the beginning of the season, did he tell you that you were the closer?

Fuentes: Yes, from get go, I’ve been closing.

In regards to communication, is that something that oughta change?

Fuentes: It should. It’s not my decision. I can’t predict the future. If he decides to take that step, then there will be communication. If not, I’ll make sure I’m ready from the first.

Does there need to be a “clear the air” meeting?

Fuentes: Some people might think so. At this point I have nothing to say.

Has this been boiling up or is it just recent?

Fuentes: Just recent, really. I think the games in San Francisco were some unorthodox managing. I thought it was maybe the National league thing, that maybe that had something to do with it, but tonight was pretty unbelievable.
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In hindsight perhaps it wasn't the best idea for Beane to prove how little managers matter by hiring his best man....

Also the A's starting pitchers have given up one earned run per game over the last five games and the A's have managed to lose all five... that has to be some sort of record. Fuentes has now lost four games in a row, none of which were blown saves.

Brian Fuentes this season: In 11 Save Opps: 1-1 Rec, 9 Saves, 2.92 ERA. In other 12 games: 0-6 Rec, 8.00 ERA. #Athletics
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Geren has made plenty of curious bullpen moves over the years that have invited scrutiny. He's said before that he doesn't like putting relievers in any one certain role but would rather have guys ready to be called on whenever needed.
"I could use anybody late in the game," Geren said. "It's been that way, everybody knows that. If there's a certain part of the lineup (that's good) to use (Fuentes) earlier, I'll use him earlier."
He also indicated he's reluctant to use unproven pitchers in crucial late-inning situations.
"He should share those comments with us rather than with you guys," said Fuentes, who has a 5.06 ERA and entered Monday tied for fourth in the AL with 22 appearances.
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I can't wait for Lawrie to get called up the day I fly back fromy vacation...

Brett Lawrie, 3B, Las Vegas 51s: Yesterday was the Brett Lawrie Show: he went 2-for-4 with two homers and four RBI. In his last 10 games, Lawrie is hitting .375/.490/.800 with nine walks and four homers. On the season, he's at .346/.403/.633 with 11 homers and nine steals in 10 attempts.

Based on his track record, and what I saw Sunday afternoon, I am convinced that Brett Lawrie has everything needed to be a superstar. The only things that could get in the way are injuries or his own personality.

There were three cautions for Lawrie entering 2011: his plate discipline, his position, and his attitude. We'll start with the hitting.

Lawrie has always shown me good bat speed when I've seen him, but he's taken that up a notch this year. He's closed his stance slightly compared to previous observations, and his bat looks even quicker now. He is working counts MUCH more effectively than when I've see him in the past. One of his homers (the one pictured) was a long arching shot pulled to left center. The second one was an opposite field homer, a result of Lawrie making strong contact on an outside pitch and driving it perfectly. The one thing that was keeping him from fully tapping his natural power was impatience, but he showed a terrific eye in this game, and this seems deliberate: after posting a weak 4/23 BB/K in April, he's at 11/13 in May. When he was in high school, scouting reports indicated that plate discipline was one of his strengths. He didn't show much of that in his first two years of pro ball, but he is suddenly controlling the zone again. If he keeps that up, look out.

Defense: Lawrie converted to third base from second base this year. The results so far: a .922 fielding percentage, although combined with a strong 3.02 range factor. If you look at the boxscore for this game, you'll see that Lawrie made two errors. But that's not the whole story.
    One of his errors went like this: the ball was hit to the gap between the third baseman and shortstop. Lawrie was playing slightly off the bag, but ranged far to his left, well into the normal territory of the shortstop. The SS seemed to misread the ball but Lawrie got to it, backhanded it, did a quick almost 360 pivot, and fired the ball to the first baseman one step ahead of the runner. His release was very quick and it was a very athletic play. However, the throw was off target and pulled the first baseman off the bag. The key here was that Lawrie showed great range and quickness to his left, and with more experience at the position that throw might well have been on target.
     Another impressive play: Lawrie was playing back. The hitter made a perfectly placed bunt, Lawrie charged, scooped the ball, and made an off-balance, on-target throw to first base. The runner beat the throw for a single, but again Lawrie showed the requisite quickness and athleticism for the position.
    My view of Lawrie's defense is this: he has more than enough range and athleticism for third base, has a quick release, and a strong enough arm. He just needs more experience.
    He also runs well with more speed than you'd expect given his size. I didn't get to see him do anything on the bases other than a home run trot, but he's 9-for-10 this year with steals, much better than the 30/43 mark he posted last year.

Attitude: This is the big knock on Lawrie and one of the reasons (it is said) that the Brewers were willing to trade him.
    Obviously there is only so much you can tell from just watching a player, but I kept my eye on  him most of the game, even he wasn't the center of attention or involved in a play. Lawrie fidgets a lot. He seems to radiate intensity and energy. This can be somewhat off-putting, like when he fidgets during the national anthem when everyone else is still, but the upside is that his body looked alive far more than everyone else on the field, with the possible exception of Lorenzo Cain. Comparing Lawrie with Moustakas for example, Lawrie just oozes energetic power compared to Moustakas' solid, staid affect.   
     Lawrie's intensity manifested itself negatively when he got into an argument with the umpire about a check-swing strike three call. It looked like he almost got ejected (which would have really irritated me, it was just the third inning), but he pulled himself back in time and stayed in the game. There are all kinds of stories/rumors about Lawrie's personality and antics, but he plays with fire on the field.

To summarize, I really believe in Lawrie's bat. He has the tools to be a good defensive third baseman with experience. He plays very hard on the field. You don't have to be a nice guy to be a great player. If he avoids injuries, grows up a bit and learns to channel his energy and intensity, he's going to be a monster.
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Love the anthem-fidgeting. So hockey.
 
lol

dejesus.gif


Hey DeJesus, here's a proper throw:

nate3.gif
 
Nard Bagman said:
Yeah, you don't see that often from him. At least the home run drought is over.
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Meanwhile, in the other locker room, the media is badgering the manager about bringing the fences in.

Joyce was pretty inconsistent last night, too.
 
The_Inquisitor said:
Hey guys. Posting from Greece again. Watching the condensed game from last night. Did hambone really HR on his first at bat? I think I'm going to cry
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yup. Nellie homered as well. And David Murphy toasted Konerko at 2nd on what should have been a routine double.
 
ah Fred Wilpon you moron:

"Reyes never has asked for Carl Crawford money from the Mets. He’s never asked for a penny yet. There have been no contract discussions between the shortstop and ownership, which means Wilpon only has managed to fray the fibers of the relationship. The Mets can forget about getting a hometown discount from Reyes this winter – and that’s assuming they have the money to negotiate in earnest.”
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and he has yet to apologize for his comments. What a joke.

lineup52411.png
 
New look Braves lineup with McLouth & Heyward on the DL and Uggla benched for the first time this season:

1. Schafer - CF
2. Prado - LF
3. Chipper - 3B
4. McCann - C
5. Hinske - RF
6. Gonzalez - SS
7. Freeman - 1B
8. Conrad - 2B
9. Jurrjens - P
 
CygnusXS said:
Lambtron? Winwood? Anybody?
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I was out of town, following the game on my phone. Once I saw Swarzak come in for the 10th I knew it was over.

Pathetic team. Bill Smith doesn't have a clue about roster construction, and they're constantly trying to stuff square pegs into round holes. They're going to trade away Slowey for pennies on the dollar, and then when Duensing inevitably comes back to earth as a starter, Slowey can't be plugged into the rotation. But hey, the only reason there's a starter logjam is because we signed Pavano instead of a reliever (which we desperately need) or keeping JJ Hardy (who would be an improvement over basically any middle infielder in our system).

The Twins are too loyal and too stubborn to fix things in the front office. They trade away useful, up the middle players because they need "more speed" or "a proven closer" because they decide that's what they're going to do. Their hand is over played, and they get fleeced or make a stupid, rash move. They had the 6th best offense in baseball last year and the manager was bitching that people weren't running the bases fast enough? It doesn't matter how fast they're running when the middle of the order is crushing balls into the gaps or over the fence. It doesn't matter if they're fast if they're playing stellar defense.

The right move would be to axe Smith and bring in some fresh blood, but he basically has the job locked up for life. I can't wait to trade away Slowey for a backup catcher, which would basically mean we traded Slowey straight up for Capps & his bloated salary. In my opinion, for a short term emergency fix, you send Slowey down to AAA to get stretched out, and move Duensing into the bullpen. Remove Dusty Hughes from the 40 man roster and call up Chuck James. Trade Delmon for basically anything you can get and roll with Revere in left. Once Mauer is healthy, sacrifice Rene Rivera to the baseball gods and hope for the best.
 
Just curious, why would/should Wilpon have to apologize for his comments? None of them were too far out and it was just his honest opinion.


ProtoCents said:
Reyes for Jeter, straight up.
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I would love to see Reyes play for the Yankees.
 
Sanjuro Tsubaki said:
Just curious, why would/should Wilpon have to apologize for his comments? None of them were too far out and it was just his honest opinion.
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It seems like Mets fans would rather have an owner who condescended to them like children, and continually insisted that everything was fine and the Mets were one step away from contention with a lineup full of superstars. I don't understand this mentality myself.
 
Windu said:
so i guess Charlie Morton won't have any problem with the lineup then.
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I'll bet two errors for the Braves tonight. I know Conrad will have one. He could have the other one as well, but Schafer may have it due to nerves.
 
Sanjuro Tsubaki said:
Just curious, why would/should Wilpon have to apologize for his comments? None of them were too far out and it was just his honest opinion.
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A few were, AND YOU DON'T SAY THAT SHIT OUT IN PUBLIC. Bottom line.
Sharp said:
It seems like Mets fans would rather have an owner who condescended to them like children, and continually insisted that everything was fine and the Mets were one step away from contention with a lineup full of superstars. I don't understand this mentality myself.
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can't wait until Nats' owner calls Strasburg a "pussy" and that Bryce Harper is a "pimping preening primadonna who's in for a rude awakening" in the papers.
 
Mets are "bleeding cash" and could lose up to $70 million this year:


New York Mets owner Fred Wilpon has said the team is "bleeding cash" and could lose $70 million this season, and he has revealed that the person that triggered the financial meltdown, Bernard Madoff, was once offered a stake in the club.

Wilpon also said in an interview for the May 30 edition of Sports Illustrated that he fears he could lose the Mets if the trustee for victims of Madoff's Ponzi scheme wins a $1 billion lawsuit against the team and the owner's other interests.

"I think the club became in jeopardy when he filed [for] this billion dollars," Wilpon said. "That's when I decided to sell part of the club and maintain control in our operations and share the partnership with somebody."

Wilpon said he is willing to settle based on the $295 million in fictitious profits he earned, but will not settle based on $700 million in principal he and his partners invested with Madoff.

Former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo has been mediating talks between Wilpon and the trustee, Irving Picard.

"Gov. Cuomo has not been able to at this stage convince them that the 700 is not going to be obtainable," Wilpon told the magazine.

Wilpon has been trying to sell a stake in the team to raise much needed cash. The magazine reported that if he can raise $200 million, $25 million will pay back an emergency loan to Major League Baseball; $75 million will be used to pay down team debt of $427 million; and $100 million will go to operating expenses.

Even though the Mets will have nearly $64 million in salaries coming off the books, they don't intend to put much, if any, of that back into the the team payroll next year, Wilpon told the magazine. That would mean their payroll would go from top 10 in the league to possibly the lower half.

Wilpon also said that in 2002 when he became sole owner of the Mets, he reached out to four or five "extrememly close friends" to invest in the team. Madoff turned him down.

"Bernie didn't want to be in the public eye, which I can now understand more," Wilpon said to the magazine.

But Madoff did play a role in the financial health of the team. According to the magazine, Madoff investments were supposed to offset debt owed to players. When the Mets wanted to get rid of Bobby Bonilla after the 1999 season, they would have owed him $5.9 million. Instead, they decided to invest that money with Madoff at a return of 10 percent to 12 percent.

They would pay Bonilla $1.2 million per year for 25 years, payments based on an annual interest rate of 8 percent. So in theory, had Madoff's schemes not tanked, a seemingly horrible financial decision would have in fact created a net profit.

Wilpon was asked if Madoff's rate of return raised any red flags.

"Not by Madoff's formula, if you believe his formula of what he did with puts and calls," Wilpon said. "Markets going this way and markets going that way didn't affect the basket of stocks he was allegedly buying. We had no feeling that that was unusual."

Picard, meanwhile, contends that Wilpon has not provided enough documentation outlining the relationship between the Mets and Madoff, according to the New York Times. The trustee claims that the club had 16 accounts with Madoff and invested tens of millions of dollars.

The Wilpon camp counters that it has provided more than 700,000 pages of documentation and there is no evidence that the Mets or any other Wilpon entity knew that Madoff was engaged in fraud.
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http://sports.espn.go.com/new-york/mlb/news/story?id=6583378
 
Dang. This is a pretty cool story about Pirates' 2nd Baseman Neil Walker.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/2011-05-23-nl-beat-neil-walker_N.htm

It might be premature to be count on World Series rings, but Walker's left hand will have a wedding band by the end of the year. He is to be married in December, with the rehearsal dinner at The Clemente Museum. It's only fitting that Walker will celebrate his wedding surrounded by Roberto Clemente memorabilia, he says, since he wouldn't be alive without the Hall of Famer.

Clemente died 13 years before Walker was born, but they are linked by the evening of Dec. 31, 1972. Walker's dad, Tom, who played on Clemente's Puerto Rican winter ball team, was helping Clemente put relief supplies on a plane for Nicaraguan earthquake victims. Tom Walker, who pitched in the big leagues for six seasons, was ready to board the plane, Neil Walker says, when Clemente told him to stay behind and enjoy the New Year's Eve party. The DC-7 took off with Clemente and burst into flames, killing him and four others.

"I owe everything in my career, really, my whole life to Roberto Clemente," Walker says. "If not for him, I wouldn't be here today. I'd sure love to make him proud now."
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