2014 MLB Season Thread

[Sarge+ 3,436]

I know the Jays don't have much of a farm left, but they can still acquire some pitching by the trade deadline. They may as well go all in to make the playoffs this year. Dickey can still pitch like an ace for them. They need a solid starting pitcher and a bullpen arm. You can get a reliever real cheap. They should look to trade for a starter where they can give up marginal prospects but take on some salary.

[BigBen07 285]

I know the Jays don't have much of a farm left, but they can still acquire some pitching by the trade deadline. They may as well go all in to make the playoffs this year. Dickey can still pitch like an ace for them. They need a solid starting pitcher and a bullpen arm. You can get a reliever real cheap. They should look to trade for a starter where they can give up marginal prospects but take on some salary.

I agree. Take advantage of the weak AL East this season. Jays need to get rid of Esmil Rogers for starters, as he's WAY too inconsistent to be reliable. I'm not sure who's available right now however.

[BradyFan81 404]

Not sure what the limit is on teh amount of bitching I'm allowed to do considering we won the WS last year, but we suck so much right now. Grady Sizemore is so bad, I can't stand watching him. He can't field or hit. Jackie Bradley is a terrible hitter, but at least he can play defense. Our OF is just so bad.

[Favre4Ever+ 4,476]

Mike Matheny continues to baby our starters. Jaime with a pretty effective 2nd outing. I enjoy this.

[Piggly Wiggly 960]

A's have lost 4 in a row, and are still 10 games over .500.

 

[Dro 18]

Giants have the best record in baseball???

[Favre4Ever+ 4,476]

Gonna just keep talking about how awesome Waino is. When he does have an off game on the mound, we will conveniently overlook it.

 

[Tridentdawgpound 1,043]

In the Braves jersey? You're a dick.

[Sarge+ 3,436]

Yordano Ventura left today's game in the 3rd inning due to "elbow pain." Another one bites the TJ dust. I'm getting worried about Cole now.

[BigBen07 285]

8 in a row! Mark goes to 9-1!

 

This one didn't come easy though. Rays made me nervous the last three innings.

[Sarge+ 3,436]

http://happyplace.someecards.com/sports/this-may-be-the-most-inappropriate-act-ever-caught-in-the-background-of-a-televised-baseball-game/

 

Misleading article title... It's not really that inappropriate. Just weird as shit and funny, IMO.

[Sarge+ 3,436]

 

Updated playoff odds. Blue Jays are looking good. They will need some pitching help at the deadline. The Pirates aren't in an ideal position, but they aren't out of it quite yet. Anyone below the Reds has probably already been eliminated.

[southgadawg 52]

TBH I have gotten to the point where I think that the Marlins could very well be a contender all the way to the end. Young pitching and young hitting could be gelling. Of course one more major injury to that team and they might be toast (for example Stanton).

Edited May 29, 2014 by southgadawg

[Sarge+ 3,436]

Once the Nats get healthy, they and the Braves will run away with the NL East. Miami has a good future but it's just not their time yet. Especially without Fernandez.

[BigBen07 285]

So mad at Reyes. I don`t mind seeing the Jays lose but not that way...

Edited May 30, 2014 by BigBen07

[Sarge+ 3,436]

 

lmao50Cent

[SteVo+ 3,702]

George Bush FTW. That pitch was right after 9/11 too.

[JetsFan4Life 542]

Cory Kluber has had 8 or more K's in six straight games. Dude is on an absolute tear right now.

[Bay 2,003]

Thinking about southpaws...

 

After Kershaw, Lee and Price... Bumgarner and Sale round out the top 5 lefties right now, right?

[Sarge+ 3,436]

I think Sale is better than MadBum, but yea, I don't really object to that grouping as the top 5 lefties. Jon Lester and Dallas Keuchel have been very good this year, too, and Hamels could always sneak his way into that list. Lots of good pitchers in MLB now.

Edited June 1, 2014 by Sarge

[Sarge+ 3,436]

The Marlins traded the 39th overall pick in the 2014 MLB draft to the Pirates for right-handed relief pitcher Bryan Morris.

 

 

 

 

@DCameronFG 5m

The Pirates literally just turned a guy who doesn't belong in the big leagues into an asset worth several million.

 

 

 

@DCameronFG 2m

151 relievers have thrown 90+ IP since start of 2012 season. All 150 others have posted a better FIP- than Morris.

 

Neal Huntington strikes again.

Edited June 1, 2014 by Sarge

[Bay 2,003]

I think Sale is better than MadBum, but yea, I don't really object to that grouping as the top 5 lefties. Jon Lester and Dallas Keuchel have been very good this year, too, and Hamels could always sneak his way into that list. Lots of good pitchers in MLB now.

Definitely would not argue that.

 

Lester beasting today. Didn't even realize Dallas was left-handed.

[southgadawg 52]

The Marlins traded the 39th overall pick in the 2014 MLB draft to the Pirates for right-handed relief pitcher Bryan Morris.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Neal Huntington strikes again.

 

Draft picks in baseball don't have the same value as they do in football. From my understanding the only picks that can even be traded are the ones the MLB bestows for competitive balance. These are only even tradeable during the season and not the offseason. The pick in question although it is the 39th overall pick in the draft from my understanding would had been the third pick in the draft for the Marlins. The Marlins have a legitimate shot at the playoffs this year but in many opinions their bullpen is the weakest part of the team. As bad as i totally despise their owner I have to agree that while not the best possible option of a reliever out there, at least they are trying to address their biggest shortcomings.

 

As far as the Braves, it seems that the addition of Tommy LaStella has lengthened the line-up and that is a good thing.

[Sarge+ 3,436]

Morris was going to be DFA'd next week by the Pirates. He throws hard, but he is terrible. meanwhile, there are a lot of good players available still around the 39th pick. Definitely a big win for the Pirates.

 

Speaking of big wins, the Pirates took 3/4 in LA. 4 games under .500, and today is June 1st. Whole new season.

Edited June 2, 2014 by Sarge

[Sarge+ 3,436]

This could be a game-changer.

 

 

 

Astros Officially Create the Sign-and-Promote with Jon Singleton

by Dave Cameron - June 2, 2014

For the last year or so, the Astros have reportedly been offering various long-term deals to some of the young players in their organization, using the carrot of guaranteed millions to try and buy out a couple of free agent years. Up until now, no one had signed the offer, and Evan Longoria remained the record holder for fewest number of days of service before signing a long-term deal. However, with first base prospect Jon Singleton, the Astros have now codified the first deal that officially includes a Major League call-up as part of the package.

 

According to Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports, Singleton’s deal is for $10 million guaranteed over the next five seasons, beginning in 2014, with three team options that could push the total value of the deal to $35 million. By getting seven more years of team control after this season, the Astros are essentially buying one free agent year in advance — they would have owned the rest of 2014 anyway, plus six full seasons afterwards — and signing this deal now allowed Singleton to get promoted without worrying about the Super-Two deadline. Had Singleton not signed the deal, he likely would have spent several more weeks in Triple-A.

 

It goes without saying that this deal is a huge potential boon to the Astros. If Singleton turns out to be a quality player, he would have gone well beyond $35 million in his arbitration years and first free agent season, but if Singleton busts, they’re only out $7 or $8 million above and beyond what they would have paid by going year to year. Risking $7 or $8 million for a chance to save upwards of $30 million — let’s assume a high-quality slugging 1B would have earned ~$40 million in future arbitration earnings and another ~$25 million for his first free agent year — is a total no-brainer for a team like the Astros. There’s a reason they’ve been trying to get nearly every player with any modicum of talent to take deals like these. These deals lean very heavily towards the organization’s favor.

But for Singleton, this represents a significant guarantee. As an 8th round pick in the 2009 draft, he signed for $200,000, so he hasn’t been living in poverty as a minor leaguer, but between taxes, agent commissions, living expenses, and his admitted drug addiction, it’s safe to say that he probably doesn’t have a lot of that money left. In fact, when discussing this particular deal, we cannot ignore Singleton’s past words.

 

“At this point, it’s pretty evident to me that I’m a drug addict,” Singleton told The Associated Press over breakfast on a recent day near the Astros’ camp. “I don’t openly tell everyone that, but it’s pretty apparent to myself.”

First baseman Jon Singleton spent a month at a rehab facility last year to battle marijuana addiction. “He’s still young and still learning about baseball and about life,” Astros GM Jeff Luhnow said.

Vividly so.

“I know that I enjoy smoking weed, I enjoy being high, and I can’t block that out of my mind that I enjoy that,” he said. “So I have to work against that.”

 

On the one hand, one could argue that giving a self-admitted drug addict $10 million in guaranteed money makes this deal even more of a risk for the Astros. After all, his resources available to purchase marijuana just went way up.

 

But I think there’s a flip side to this coin as well. The Astros have now provided Singleton with a significant, contractually-guaranteed financial motivation to stay clean. There’s now a tangible financial cost to failing a drug test, and he can measure exactly how much those drugs would cost him if he failed a test and got suspended. Where the cost was previously abstract, pushing back his timeline to reach arbitration at some point in three or four years, it is now laid out in black and white exactly how much money Singleton will lose if he gets caught using drugs again.

As outsiders, I think this is a case where we know even less than usual about the amount of risk a player should be willing to carry in exchange for future potential gain. While players should not be lining up to take these kinds of deals, I find it hard to tell an admitted drug-addict that he should bet on himself staying clean and living up to his potential. Maybe for Singleton, having his future potential earnings spelled out in a long-term contract will be just the motivation he needs to stay clean.

 

In this particular case, I find it hard to suggest that Singleton sold his risk too cheaply, because we just can’t really know what his own personal risk tolerance is, or should be. Given his past, perhaps taking $10 million now really will be better for him than going year to year would have been.

 

The opposite could be true as well, of course. I think, in a situation like this, we lack the requisite information to suggest that there was clearly a better path for the player. In this case, if asked whether this deal was a good idea for Singleton, it feels like “I don’t know” is the only response I’m comfortable with.