Official 2013 MLB Thread

[JBond]

Perhaps there's no Pujols or Fielder deal going on in this off season, but what free agent are you most curious about this time? Greinke? Hamilton? Dempster?

[Brock Landers]

I'm curious to see where Hamilton goes and what kind of contract he'll get. Everyone's going to want him, but I've got a feeling he'll stay in Texas. I'd love to see him in pinstripes, though -- preferably keep Grandy at center, Gardner in left, and put Hamilton in right-field where Swish usually is. And keep Ibanez. Yeah, that looks nice.

In other news: Mariano Rivera announced that he's coming back for one more go-around. He's old as dirt & coming off an injury but he's still Mo, and that means quality.

[JBond]

There's lots of talk about Hamilton around the Brewers water cooler...though I can't figure out why. Apparently his batting/life coach is on the Brewers. At any rate, I hope this isn't serious because we lead the NL in home runs last year and was last in bullpen ERA and blown saves, I think. If we got him that'd be really, really stupid...which is why I'm not worried. (I just wish we had smarter fans...though I guess all internet fans are dumb)

I'm glad Mo is coming back.

And OF COURSE, I'm hoping the Brewers get Greinke back.

[FranklinTard]

need a catcher, and i think russel martin could have a resurgence in the nl. really don't want aj pierzinski as i think he is a bit of a douche, and on the way down, but i've heard he is great for team chemistry. napoli would be awesome but i don't think he's going anywhere.

and maybe grab a bargain bin starting pitcher until one of our young guns is ready to come up mid season.

[JBond]

Dan Haren is flying under the radar.

[Brock Landers]

Originally Posted by JBond

And OF COURSE, I'm hoping the Brewers get Greinke back.

I could see the Angels using their resources to keep Greinke/let Haren go. As good as Haren can be, a Greinke/Weaver 1-2 is still pretty formidable on its own.

Originally Posted by FranklinTard

need a catcher, and i think russel martin could have a resurgence in the nl.

I think we'll end up keeping Martin (unless we end up going after Napoli, which I highly, highly, highly doubt Napoli would be down for, even if playing for the Yankees increases your chance at gold immensely) -- all we've really got to back up Martin is Cervelli, and we traded our best catching prospect (Montero) for Pineda last year, that badass young pitcher from Seattle. If we lose Martin, we don't have a (solid) catcher.

[Dhamon22]

Originally Posted by JBond

Dan Haren is flying under the radar.

Potential back problems, but I'd love to see the O's sign him to a one year deal with an option or two.

Whoever signs Napoli will be making out. I don't see Texas re-signing him.

First move of the offseason for the Orioles, claiming Alexi Casilla off waivers from the Twins. Certainly not earth shattering but hes an improvement over Robert Andino.

[Brock Landers]

So...how about them Marlins?

[FranklinTard]

torii hunter to the tigers

[JBond]

Originally Posted by Brock Landers

So...how about them Marlins?

The Marlins make me laugh on a monthy basis.

Congrats to R.A. Dickey. I was rooting for him.

[Brock Landers]

Originally Posted by JBond

The Marlins make me laugh on a monthy basis.

"How are they going to alienate their fan base next? Invite Fidel Castro to throw out the first pitch on Opening Day?"

I'm not sure which ESPN talking head said it, but it was priceless.

[JBond]

Congrats to Posey.......LOSER!!!

[Dhamon22]

Wow. Blue Jays making a move. Thats alot of money for Jose Reyes, Mark Buehrle, Josh Johnson, John Buck, and Emilio Bonifacio plus they just signed Melky Cabrera for two years. Good on them, I hope the O's try to make a splash as well.

[JBond]

You know what this means, right?

The Blue Jays are going to finish in 3rd place.

[Dhamon22]

Thats fine as long as its the O's in first or second. Boston will be down for a while.

Orioles made their first move of the offseason, trading Robert Andino to the Mariners for Taryvon Robinson. Print the World Series tickets now...

Royals made a mistake and gave Jeremy Guthrie 3/$25 million.

[JBond]

Look at this ****:

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?...s_mlb&c_id=mlb

[Dhamon22]

The Marlins are the worst owned team in baseball, maybe sports.

[docstop]

Originally Posted by JBond

You know what this means, right?

The Blue Jays are going to finish in 3rd place.

Being a Blue Jays fan I read this and got angry... then I realized it will probably happen that way.

Of any team in the MLB the Blue Jays have done a lot to improve their squad. Still need some bull-pen help and speculation is that their going to flip Buck to someone.

[JBond]

It's almost time...the 2013 Hall of Fame ballots.

In case you haven't noticed, this one will be very interesting with all of the eligable players that are connected with PEDs. What are your thoughts?

Danny Rose from "Intentional Talk" made an interesting point that the Hall of Fame is a museum and regardless of PEDs or not, players like Clemens and Bonds have to be in there as it's irrefutable that their stories are a part of Major League baseball.

[FranklinTard]

Id vote for them all to be in. I don't really think highly of any halls of fame though, except competitive eating, those people are gods among men.

[Brock Landers]

Originally Posted by JBond

It's almost time...the 2013 Hall of Fame ballots.

In case you haven't noticed, this one will be very interesting with all of the eligable players that are connected with PEDs. What are your thoughts?

Danny Rose from "Intentional Talk" made an interesting point that the Hall of Fame is a museum and regardless of PEDs or not, players like Clemens and Bonds have to be in there as it's irrefutable that their stories are a part of Major League baseball.

I understand Rose's point, but most of the voters I believe are "the baseball writers," and they usually end up being pretty purist. I view the PED-related guys as dirty cheaters, and I suppose I always will. I guess I'm a bit of a purist, but, personally, I wouldn't lose much sleep if Bonds or McGwire made it in, but I'd still think it's unbelievably unfair that we're allowing cheaters in to the Hall when Pete Rose is still out there, begging to be inducted. He deserves to be in the Hall waaaaay more than they do...

P.S. Intentional Talk rules. I love that show.

[JBond]

I agree with Pete Rose. He put up amazing numbers himself...he's just an *******.

Let's not forget that most people were using PEDs, it's just that the best were on top.

And Intentional Talk does rule.

[FranklinTard]

Bonds is the greatest baseball player of our era, and that is before he even touched a steroid. Take away the homers from the other guys and their cases get really weak.

Bonds has all kinds of stats that should put him in easily, but nobody likes him.

[JBond]

Oops, I meant Chris Rose, not Danny Rose.

[Brock Landers]

Originally Posted by JBond

I agree with Pete Rose. He put up amazing numbers himself...he's just an *******.

Dude is the all-time hits leader. Very few people get to best Ty Cobb, and he did it (though it took Pete Rose a LOT longer than Cobb to accumulate that many hits). Plus: if we want to talk bastards, Cobb was probably the biggest bastard of them all. He makes Pete Rose look like he's Amish by comparison. Check Cobb's WikiPedia page -- some of his exploits were so horribly mean and cruel, they're kind of funny, though maybe that's just because I dig dark comedy. A Ty Cobb biopic = insanely dark. He was just an absolute bastard.

And hell yes to Intentional Talk. It's far and away the best baseball show around. It's so good, I completely forget that I'm laughing at something Kevin Millar said (after the 04 ALCS, it's hard for me to like Millar). Thank god for the MLB Network.

Originally Posted by FranklinTard

Bonds is the greatest baseball player of our era, and that is before he even touched a steroid. Take away the homers from the other guys and their cases get really weak.

Bonds has all kinds of stats that should put him in easily, but nobody likes him.

Actually, I've never really thought of it that way. I'll also be the first to admit that my dislike of Bonds is also because of his personality -- which would make me a hypocrite, since I don't think people should be banned for the Hall because of something like personality (once again: Ty Cobb). He acted like a douche when he was playing in San Francisco, and it still kind of bothers me. And, yet: when that San Francisco fan was beaten in to a coma at Dodgers Stadium last year, Bonds offered to put his two kids through college, no questions asked, and it was unknown for awhile. It could've just been a publicity stunt (not that it matters in this case, still a beautiful gesture), but it was kept really, really quiet and away from the media, so I doubt it.