2016 MLB thread. THE CUBS HAVE BROKEN THE CURSE! Chicago Cubs are your 2016 World Series champions

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Billy/Forst/Melvin have all said there will be enough at-bats for everyone in the 5 position logjam of LF/CF/RF/DH/1B. I don't know how they plan on doing that with Crisp/Cespedes/Young/Reddick/Moss/Carter/Seth Smith, but I guess we'll see. Good problem to have if you ask me, and some of them are bound to get hurt throughout the season.
 
We will need the depth because we know someone will eventually get hurt or go into a major slump (power hitters always do). I'd be shocked if they traded Crisp because he was a HUGE part of last years team and we don't have anyone else to hit lead off (unless Weeks figures out that he isn't a homerun hitter :x).
 
bbllplaya23 said:
We will need the depth because we know someone will eventually get hurt or go into a major slump (power hitters always do). I'd be shocked if they traded Crisp because he was a HUGE part of last years team and we don't have anyone else to hit lead off (unless Weeks figures out that he isn't a homerun hitter :x).
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For his sake, I hope he has. He's already the odd man out when it comes to the infield spots, if he doesn't play to his strengths and make himself irresistible then he'll be another disappointing flash in the pan prospect.
 
bbllplaya23 said:
We will need the depth because we know someone will eventually get hurt or go into a major slump (power hitters always do). I'd be shocked if they traded Crisp because he was a HUGE part of last years team and we don't have anyone else to hit lead off (unless Weeks figures out that he isn't a homerun hitter :x).
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I was thinking the same because you can't really count on Crisp to be healthy for a full season, and I hope Weeks does figure it out as well like Ian Desmond finally did last year. Best of luck to ya'll this season, if you guys are able to win the division again over those payrolls in LA and Texas it'll be pretty cool.
 
madj55 said:
bbllplaya23 said:
We will need the depth because we know someone will eventually get hurt or go into a major slump (power hitters always do). I'd be shocked if they traded Crisp because he was a HUGE part of last years team and we don't have anyone else to hit lead off (unless Weeks figures out that he isn't a homerun hitter :x).
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I was thinking the same because you can't really count on Crisp to be healthy for a full season, and I hope Weeks does figure it out as well like Ian Desmond finally did last year. Best of luck to ya'll this season, if you guys are able to win the division again over those payrolls in LA and Texas it'll be pretty cool.
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Thanks man, appreciated. I definitely like our chances against the West, particularly the Rangers now since they had a poor off-season compared to us and the Angels.
 
Proshares said:
Five offseason moves that will backfire.
Recall the saying "it seemed like a good idea at the time" and you'll be able to apply it to a number of baseball's 30 teams. Indeed, most general managers would love to call a mulligan or two during their careers. As such, the following five players are, in my opinion, the most likely to end up as someone's mulligan. Their contracts are simply more than they are worth, whether it be dollars or number of years, and thus could very easily backfire on the general manager.



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1. Angel Pagan | CF | Age: 31 | San Francisco Giants
Contract: Four years, $40 million | AAV: $10 million

Giants senior vice president/general manager Brian Sabean is one of the best in the business, with two world championships in the past three years. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t make his fair share of mistakes on long-term contracts, such as Barry Zito’s seven-year, $126 million deal or Aaron Rowand’s five-year, $60 million albatross. Sabean’s history also includes being loyal to players (read: overpaying) who helped him win rings. After winning the World Series in 2010, he overpaid Aubrey Huff by re-signing him to a two-year, $20 million deal.

Likewise, fresh off winning the 2012 World Series, Sabean handsomely rewarded Pagan, who had a solid defensive year while serving as an effective table setter who got the job done on a consistent basis. It was easily the best year of his career. But this offseason was the first during which scouting reports on Pagan didn’t include phrases such as “loses focus,” “continuously gets bad jumps and leads” and “very inconsistent.”

The length of the deal is more troublesome than the dollars. Pagan has not been a consistent enough player to think he’ll be able to repeat what he did last season, let alone for four more. With financial security, I’m also not convinced he won’t revert back to the player who loses focus on occasion. His decline years are coming soon, and I think the last two years of this deal could end similarly to Rowand’s, which led to his unconditional release well before the contract ended.



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2. Nick Swisher | RF | Age: 32 | Cleveland Indians
Contract: Four years, $56 million | AAV: $14 million

Swisher was one of the most consistent performers to hit the open market this offseason, so the Indians can expect his normal production of 20-plus homers and an OBP above .350 even though he won’t have the same protection in the lineup he had with the Yankees. However, Swisher has never won a Gold Glove or a Silver Slugger and has made it to one All-Star game in nine years. Also, he's a mediocre defender and has an awful postseason track record, though it's unlikely he'll get a chance to correct that in Cleveland.

His high energy and enthusiasm will be a huge plus to the Indians' clubhouse, but $56 million for a player who will be playing in his decline years from age 32 to 36 is extremely risky, especially because he doesn’t profile as a legitimate 3-4-5 hitter. The deal will work for the first two years, but if he’s not traded by the end of 2014, it will come back to bite GM Chris Antonetti.



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3. Jeremy Guthrie | RHP | Age: 33 | Kansas City Royals
Contract: Three years, $25 million | AAV: $8.33 million

When the Royals acquired Guthrie from the Colorado Rockies on July 20, 2012, they were pleasantly surprised as Guthrie went 5-3 with a 3.16 ERA and 1.132 WHIP in 14 starts after the trade. General manager Dayton Moore had seen enough, so he signed Guthrie to a deal during which Guthrie will pitch at ages 34 through 36. That makes it risky in itself.

He does bring the strength of being able to give 200 innings pitched a year, which has value. Outside of the 14 starts he made with the Royals, however, the rest of his career doesn’t paint a pretty picture. He led the American League in losses twice with 17 in both 2009 and 2011. Before being traded to the Royals in July, he was almost given his unconditional release by the Rockies after going 3-9 with a 6.35 ERA and 1.68 WHIP. Sure, you can blame some of that on Coors Field, bad defense, run support and bullpens. But after a while, the excuses run out.

The reality is Guthrie has had a total of one winning season in nine years and his numbers are well below the worth of his contract. This could end up being the worst free-agent signing for the Royals since Gil Meche in 2006. It is a deal I believe the Royals will eventually regret.



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4. Joe Blanton | RHP | Age: 32 | Los Angeles Angels
Contract: Two years, $15 million | AAV: $7.5 million

Jerry Dipoto is one of the best and brightest general managers in baseball. In his short tenure as Angels GM, he has acquired Albert Pujols, Josh Hamilton, C.J. Wilson, Tommy Hanson, Jason Vargas, Chris Iannetta, Ernesto Frieri, Sean Burnett and Ryan Madson. That’s about as impressive as we’ve seen in the history of baseball.

However, giving Blanton more than a one-year contract was simply unwarranted. As good as the Angels are, and as good as the AL West is, the Angels needed a better quality starter for the fifth spot.

Blanton’s ERAs of 4.82, 5.01 and 4.71 in the National League will translate to an ERA of well over 5.00 in the American League. To take a chance on Blanton with even a one-year deal would have been debatable itself, but the two-year deal and depending on him for rotation depth will end up being a mistake.



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5. Marco Scutaro | 2B | Age: 37 | San Francisco Giants
Contract: Three years, $20 million | AAV: $6.6 million

Scutaro is a solid player who knows how to play the game and is fundamentally sound. He can turn the double play, make the routine plays, hit and run when called upon and lay down a bunt when needed. And yet, he came to the Giants because of what his teams thought he couldn’t do. In 2011, the Red Sox decided to trade him to the Rockies because they thought he’d lost some range and bat speed. The Rockies traded him to the Giants after only 95 games when they decided his bat was slow and the adjustment back to second base wasn’t going as smoothly as planned. However, once Scutaro became a Giant he put it all together and ended up as the NLCS MVP.

So why not a three-year deal? Scutaro’s performance was only a snapshot of success, a period of time when he played at his optimum level but not a true reflection of the player he’ll be over the next three years. If he was showing signs of decline with both Boston and Colorado, what will he look like at age 39?

This contract is way too risky. They might get one solid year out of Scutaro, but I doubt he’ll be able to give them three years of the level they witnessed last season and in the postseason. Scutaro made about $20 million over the course his entire major league career from 2002-12. And now, at age 37, will make $20 million for the final three years of his career.
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As much as I hope to god that this article is wrong, I dont think it is. Once again Sabean most likely dished out two terrible contracts, I know its hard to bash the man after the last three years, but this has been far less than an impressive offseason for us.
 
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:lol: I'm not a fan of those player T-Shirts.

Anyways, winning the West again will be a very tough task. Was Reddick's last season struggle because he was tired or something else? How will Nakajima adapt to the majors? How will Sizemore come back? Can we get anything out of Weeks? Can the combination of Moss/Carter repeat last year's magic? Can Donaldson hang at 3rd? Will we get any production from the catcher position? How will the young pitching look this year?

I'm not saying we won't, just think there are lots of questions to be answered. I really like the depth we have in the OF and pitching wise. If Nakajima can adapt well and we get similar production from guys like Moss/Carter/Donaldson, I like our chances. I really think we need to hit for a higher average this year though. We can't count on those homerun totals again.

Either way, I can't wait till the season starts...hell I can't wait till March for spring training. I'll be there for 5 nights this time. :pimp:
 
bbllplaya23 said:
:lol: I'm not a fan of those player T-Shirts.

Anyways, winning the West again will be a very tough task. Was Reddick's last season struggle because he was tired or something else? How will Nakajima adapt to the majors? How will Sizemore come back? Can we get anything out of Weeks? Can the combination of Moss/Carter repeat last year's magic? Can Donaldson hang at 3rd? Will we get any production from the catcher position? How will the young pitching look this year?

I'm not saying we won't, just think there are lots of questions to be answered. I really like the depth we have in the OF and pitching wise. If Nakajima can adapt well and we get similar production from guys like Moss/Carter/Donaldson, I like our chances. I really think we need to hit for a higher average this year though. We can't count on those homerun totals again.

Either way, I can't wait till the season starts...hell I can't wait till March for spring training. I'll be there for 5 nights this time. :pimp:
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Reddick's struggle happened after he crashed into the wall in Baltimore mid to late August. I'm going to be optimistic that that played a part in his stunted production and consider him healthy for this go around. Nakajima is definitely a wild card, can't predict what he'll do. Sizemore I'm not so optimistic about, his layoff was so long. Weeks is a non-factor since his position is filled already. I expect either Moss or Carter to win their position outright with undeniable offense, but not for both to do what they did last year. And I expect a higher batting average.

As for the "if,"... :lol: it'll happen, no doubt about it.
 
Th3RealF0lkBlu3s said:
bbllplaya23 said:
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I'm not a fan of those player T-Shirts.

Anyways, winning the West again will be a very tough task. Was Reddick's last season struggle because he was tired or something else? How will Nakajima adapt to the majors? How will Sizemore come back? Can we get anything out of Weeks? Can the combination of Moss/Carter repeat last year's magic? Can Donaldson hang at 3rd? Will we get any production from the catcher position? How will the young pitching look this year?

I'm not saying we won't, just think there are lots of questions to be answered. I really like the depth we have in the OF and pitching wise. If Nakajima can adapt well and we get similar production from guys like Moss/Carter/Donaldson, I like our chances. I really think we need to hit for a higher average this year though. We can't count on those homerun totals again.

Either way, I can't wait till the season starts...hell I can't wait till March for spring training. I'll be there for 5 nights this time.
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Reddick's struggle happened after he crashed into the wall in Baltimore mid to late August. 
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that was such an awesome game 
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So many "ifs" on this A's team, but its gonna make it exciting (again). IF the catchers post over a .700ops combined (and play some defense), IF either Moss or Carter can produce like last year, IF either Weeks or Sizemore can produce at 2nd base and out of the 2 hole in the lineup, IF Nakajima can adapt to the MLB, IF Donaldson can play nearly as well as he did last year, IF the outfield can stay healthy and produce as well as last year (if not better), and IF these pitchers don't regress too much, another West title will be a possibility.
 
Schedules and tradition take a hit with 15-team leagues

Tom Verducci, SI.com

I never liked the idea of two 15-team leagues, and now that it's here, it looks even worse on paper. I know that you can look at a 2,430-game schedule from just about any year and find anomalies and oddities. But this first season with interleague play all year creates two trends that push baseball in the wrong direction:

• Pennant race rivalries are de-emphasized.

Baseball did try as best it could to keep the end of the season weighted with intradivisional games. But the clumsiness of 15-team leagues still reduces such head-to-head matchups everybody wants to see in September. The Yankees, for instance, play six of their final nine games against the Giants and Astros. The Nationals play their last six games against the Cardinals and Diamondbacks. And if the Mariners are in contention in the AL West in September, they will do so as near strangers to their division rivals. They play 17 of their last 26 games against teams outside their division.

And by the way, forget about another Night of 162, the end to the 2011 season that was the most exciting night in baseball history. This season ends on an NFL Sunday.

• The end of baseball as it was invented gets a little bit closer.

Interleague play used to be confined to two narrow windows fairly close together. AL teams would have their pitchers take batting practice and run the bases just prior to those windows, and then forget about it -- until and unless they were preparing for postseason play. Now? Interleague play comes so randomly that what's a poor AL manager to do about prepping his pitchers to play offense?

Take the Tigers, for instance. They play in NL parks in early May, late May, late August and -- get this -- the last three days of the season. I can't wait to see how manager Jim Leyland handles it when an AL playoff berth is on the line and Justin Verlander has to hit and Victor Martinez can't.

And memo to David Ortiz: the Red Sox play eight games in the last six weeks without the DH.

My guess is that AL pitchers risk injury because of the randomness of playing in NL parks (should they take BP all year?) and pennant races will seem very, very weird when teams go back and forth in September under AL and NL rules. And once managers and general managers actually see these changes in place, they will ask an obvious question: Why don't we just use the DH in all interleague games, including the ones in NL parks? And once you lose NL baseball in interleague games, you are one more step closer to losing it altogether.

Why did baseball go to two 15-team leagues? Some owners were bothered that teams in the AL West started with a one-in-four chance of making the postseason, teams in the NL Central a one-in-six chance and all others a one-in-five chance. Players didn't like the schedule inequities that interleague play caused, especially since the advent of wild cards mean teams compete against the entire league for a playoff spot, not just their own division. Players also argued the 15-team leagues would create a better travel schedule.

(I'm not sure about that theory. Take the Giants. Last year they played 23 games in the Eastern time zone, none after July 22. This year they get 30 games in the East, including 18 after July 22.)

Essentially baseball wants the schedule to be as equitable as possible, but in doing so risks turning baseball into a "conference-style" sport like the NBA in which rivalries are de-emphasized. Consider this dizzying four-week stretch of opponents for the Yankees starting in mid-April: Diamondbacks, Blue Jays, Rays, Blue Jays, Astros, A's, Rockies, Mariners, Bobcats. (Okay, I slipped the last one in there to see if you were still with me, but you get the point.)

Don't worry, you might say, you'll get used to it. That's what I'm worried about.
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Verducci sounds like a crybaby :lol:.

I'm sure AL managers will find a way to "prep" their pitchers to strikenout on 3 pitches just fine. I'm all for the two 15 leagues.
 
Rafael Soriano to the Nats :pimp:

Does this mean Clippard or Storen might be used as part of a Morse trade? :nerd:
 
$14 million for a reliever is about the funniest thing I've ever heard of.

He is going to make that much money, and appear in about 70 of the team's minimum of 1,458 innings.

~$200,000 per inning.

Baffling.
 
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Kevin Cleveland said:
$14 million for a reliever is about the funniest thing I've ever heard of.

He is going to make that much money, and appear in about 70 of the team's minimum of 1,458 innings.

~$200,000 per inning.

Baffling.
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I'd rather pay for that than sit in a stadium and watch Drew Storen throw our World Series dreams down the drain again.
 
So pay $14 million for Soriano to throw it away? There are only two relievers who deserve that kind of money.
 
No relievers deserve that kind of money. Or anywhere close to it.

It's not even about a team being able to afford it or not. The !+$* is just economically ******ed.

I get it. Athletes are overpaid. But that is unacceptable. Pitching in a very small percentage of a team's season means that a closer is only capable of having so much of an impact, positive or negative. So give that near non-factor $14 million? Or even half of it?

Christ. The game is way !+$%*& up.
 
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