Five days left until the season starts. Who's excited as I am?

Will MaxJack's BoSox repeat?

How will FKA's Yankees fare without Joe Torre?

Will my Detroit Tigers be the best hitting team in baseball with the addition of new powerhouse 3rd baseman, Miguel Cabrera?

Will Pixie's Kansas City Royals stop losing?

Will any National League fans show up to this thread?

Ah yes, a new season is upon us. I love the open-ended questions, you must really be feeling like a bad-ass now.

quote:

Originally posted by FragileKidA:
you must really be feeling like a bad-ass now.

A super bad-ass, to be specific. Thanks for noticing.

quote:

Originally posted by EricG75:

Will any National League fans show up to this thread?

American league? Might as well be church league softball with that stupid DH. I'm a Reds fan by the way.

quote:

Originally posted by mymindsblank:
Might as well be church league softball with that stupid DH.

Are you getting pumped to see Johan Santana batting 9th for the Mets this season?

I could go either way on the DH rule. I like that not having a DH forces NL mangers to be more strategic about when they switch out players. On the other hand, the DH rule gives guys a chance to play that are too old and fat to play 1st base anymore. I mean, what would Big Papi be doing if we got rid of the DH rule?

Hi I'm excited for baseball also. The only sad part is the teams i like aren't from where I live so I don't get to see many of there games on tv. I'm an L.A. Dodgers, oakland A's,and new york mets fan I'm NOT a yankee fan. oh,ew. Just wanted to let you know that. I think the yankees will do o.k with out joe. I know I'm not a fan of those but i just wanted to try an answer one of your questions. Can I just ask you a question. Who do you think will win the cy young award? For me its to early. I will let you know as time goes bye.

Martian Leader.

Transplanted Yankees fan here. I'm pretty pumped for this season, and I think it will be closer between the Red Sox and the Yankees than popular opinion has been saying. Actually, the Yanks will probably be either very good or very bad; I could see it going either way. They kind of dicked over Don Mattingly, but it's turned out to be a good thing what with whatever issues he has going on now. Hopefully Girardi does a good job.

Unfortunately, living in student apartments out in the middle of nowhere isn't good for my baseball watching habit; the only regular baseball we get here is the Braves on TBS and, for some reason, both Chicago teams on WGN.

I like the Blue Jays. A lot.

I was feeling good about an injury-free season until this morning when I found out that Scott Rolen suffered what sounds like a gruesome fingernail-removing injury to his throwing hand. Then I remembered that bullpen hero from 2007, Casey Janssen is gone for the season too. It can't be as bad as last year (injury-wise).

I hate to say it, but when Schilling got shelved and when Beckett said "ow, my back..." I felt happy. I feel like the Jays' best chance in this division is for some serious injury bugs to work their way through Boston and NY. We need all the help we can get!

Anyway, I'm feeling much better about this season than the last few. Bring it on.

Go Jays!

If our bullpen holds up, I love the Tigers chances this year.

We made some good trades, and there really isn't a weak link in the lineup.

However, most Tigers fans will tell you that our bullpen was the weak link last year, and I imagine it'll be the same this year. Fernando Rodney and Joel "I hurt my arm in the off-season" Zumaya will once again start the season on the DL, meaning we don't have a setup guy. Our savior might be Denny Bautista, who we picked up from the Rockies, and who's had a near perfect ERA in Spring Training.

I've also heard that we may be trying to pickup the A's Huston Street or the Cubs' Mike Wuertz. Any deal would probably depend on whether or not we can convince another team to take baseball's highest paid utility man and crybaby, Brandon Inge, off our hands.

The Tigers had the best off-season, in my opinion and should be the favorite in the Central. Their line-up should be great and their key additions were, well, key.

Everyone knows (and hates me for it) that I am a huge Yankees fan. However, I don't think they did much to improve the team. Letting go of Joe Torre was hurtful for us die-hards who have followed the team for a long time. But I also think that Joe Girardi is a great manager and who knows, he just might be the solution. What really hurts us is the lack of great starting pitching. I love Wang but he is more of a great "Number 2" pitcher than the "Number One." I would have loved to get someone like Santana but that fell through.

One thing is obvious; the Red Sox are the clear favorite. They have easily proven that pitching wins championship and boy do they have it—in the rotation and the bullpen. Plus, Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz are as healthy as ever. They are loaded, as usual.

It should be a great season and I look forward to it.

quote:

Originally posted by FragileKidA:
Everyone knows (and hates me for it) that I am a huge Yankees fan. However, I don't think they did much to improve the team. Letting go of Joe Torre was hurtful for us die-hards who have followed the team for a long time. But I also think that Joe Girardi is a great manager and who knows, he just might be the solution. What really hurts us is the lack of great starting pitching. I love Wang but he is more of a great "Number 2" pitcher than the "Number One." I would have loved to get someone like Santana but that fell through.

I think Joba will be in the rotation within a couple months, and I'm sure he won't disappoint. There's your "Number One" guy. If one of Hughes or Kennedy turns out, that's not a bad top 3.

quote:

Originally posted by EricG75:

Will Pixie's Kansas City Royals stop losing?

Will any National League fans show up to this thread?

Hahahaha... no. I would like to go to at least one home opening series game though as the Royals play against the Yankees. The rest of the season probably won't be much to look forward to; the Royals should have just transplanted the entire Sapporo Ham Fighters along with Trey Hillman. Detroit looks to be in a very good position up front given that Cleveland and Minnesota didn't get a whole lot done in the off-season. I have no idea what is happening with the White Sox - are they still a team? There was a rumor that the Royals and Brewers were going to swap leagues, which would have been a franchise saving decision for the Royals 10 years ago. One can always hope though.

Also, how the hell did we end up with another Yankee's fan on here

This message has been edited. Last edited by: La La Love Pixies,

Well, Red Sox win the opener over the A's. Who is Brandon Moss? He got a dinger in the 9th to force extras. I didn't see it but, apparently, Manny hit a long fly in the tenth that he stood watching in admiration, which ended up hitting the wall instead of being the dinger he thought. Manny being Manny in the first game of the season. Hilarious. How many times has he done that, anyway?

quote:

Originally posted by Il Mago:
Manny being Manny in the first game of the season. Hilarious. How many times has he done that, anyway?

Too many. I like how "Manny being Manny" is Red Sox fans' code for "Well, we know the guy's a douche, but he hits good."

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Originally posted by La La Love Pixies:
I have no idea what is happening with the White Sox - are they still a team?

Oh no you didn't!

If the Sox can pitch like they did last year (sans their middle relief), and hit like they did in '05, they'll be right there in the central. I know it's a big IF, but it's true. What killed them last year was they couldn't score runs to save their lives. I felt bad for the pitchers, all of whom except maybe Contreras (and middle relief) pitched above average.

As for the NL, you'll probably hear me chime in occaisionally on behalf of the Rox since they're the home team.

I used to love MLB, and I mean love.

But somewhere along the way I began to lose interest. It wasn't the strike or steroids, it was that baseball had become an exercise in capitalism and economics. The same rich teams are competitive every year, maybe one lower income team can rise up and surprise everyone (Rockies 2007), but all of the lower income teams basically have become farm teams for the richer teams. I can't tell you how many times I have watched a prospect finally reach his potential on a low income team like the Royals or Rays, only to leave for a huge payday with the BoSox, Yanks, Cubs, Dodgers, or the Mets. Sometimes they are traded for prospects, who go through the same process and eventually return to a rich club after they have proven themselves. All other professional team sports have some sort of a salary cap, why doesn't baseball? Being a Reds fan its difficult to watch a team so deep in tradition and former success wallow around in mediocrity year in and out, just because the city they are located in is a smaller market than most others. Does anyone honestly think that the Royals have a chance to win the World Series in todays baseball landscape?

Does anyone else feel this way?

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Originally posted by mymindsblank:
Does anyone else feel this way?

To a certain extent -- but you have to remember that cuts both ways. There are a number of owners who won't pay even when they have the means to. A friend in another forum brought up the idea of the league enforcing a minimum amount teams must spend on payroll lest they be at risk of being booted from MLB.

I understand what you're saying, but I don't think the vast majority of baseball's history is any different. The 80s and early 90s just happened to have more parity than pretty much any other era. The fact that this happened simultaneously with the rise of the free agent era is decent evidence to suggest that parity and money aren't necessarily connected.

Really, all of these cities can easily support a major league team, and they all have spectacularly at various points. The problem isn't the size of the markets, it's the lessening of interest in baseball in many areas. I mean, Green Bay is microscopic compared to every baseball city I can think of. A baseball team in Green Bay wouldn't last a season, but the Packers have thrived, and the reason for that certainly isn't the salary cap.

There are also several frequently poor baseball teams in rather large markets, and vice versa - the White Sox, Rangers, Phillies, Marlins, Nats, and Tigers are all in larger markets than Boston, with Oakland just behind, according to Wikipedia. New England just supports its team better - there are a lot of reasons for this, the overall wealth of Massachusetts itself being one of them, so no offense intended towards fans of the aforementioned teams. New York and LA are so massive that they are sort of exceptions, but even there, I remember the empty stands of Yankee Stadium back in the early 90s. A lot of Yankee fans seem to have short memories. I don't; that could easily happen again in 10 years.

Baseball itself is in danger, and I'm not sure what could be done about it. Getting rid of Bud Selig would be a good start.

After all that, I guess I didn't really answer your question - no, it doesn't really bother me, and you'll have to take my word for it that it's not because I'm a Yankees fan. I just like to watch baseball. Since we moved down here I hardly even get to see any Yankee games. Whatever's on Fox or ESPN is fine with me. I would love to live in a city with a major league team, no matter how bad they were.

Its been exactly a hundred years since the Cubs last won the world series, so I have a feeling this year will finally by our year

quote:

Originally posted by odysseyandoracle:
I understand what you're saying....

Ok maybe I misstated myself. I believe that some sort of salary cap at both ends of the spending spectrum would benefit the sport. The Yankees pay 3 or 4 players the equivalent of the budget of an entire smaller team. And the non-spending owners should be blamed as well. All of the great players gravitate to a small handful of wealthy teams due to the inability of the smaller revenue teams to compete salary wise, unless they put all of their eggs in one basket and keep the top player and surround him with cheap talent and not quite ready AAA players. Of course a Yankees or Red Sox fan would be happy with this, they are the benefactors of this trend. By the beginning of July, 70% of the teams are out of the playoff chase and attendance and revenue dwindle...so they sell off their better players to the contenders, the rich get richer and the poor didn't have a chance to begin with. Lack of competitiveness is killing this sport, a salary cap would be a great place to start in fixing it.