2018 MLB Hot Stove Season

[ozzyman314]

Because losing Roy Halladay wasn't enough, Daniel Flores (Red Sox prospect) has died from cancer. 17 :censored:ing years old too. WTH?

[Kramerica Industries]

On 11/7/2017 at 7:41 PM, the admiral said:

His most comparable players appear to be Zach Greinke on the aggregate side and Tim Hudson/Mike Mussina on the by-age side. That doesn't 100% feel like Hall of Fame to me by gut instinct, but I still have to believe he's in.

 

Mike Mussina is a Hall of Famer by any measure and, hopefully, will get in some day. Checked in at 51.8% of vote with six years of eligiblity left, so there's a decent chance at this for him.

[The_Admiral]

Good article:

 

Quote

Durability was Halladay’s hallmark. He pitched 63 complete games from 2002 through 2011, 30 more than any other pitcher in that decade. His back gave out, but he said his arm always felt strong. The workload never caught up to him because he measured it precisely.

 

“If I threw 120 pitches in a game, I would throw a 20-pitch bullpen,” Halladay explained. “If I threw 100 pitches in a game, I would throw a 40-pitch bullpen. If I only threw 80, I’d throw a 60-pitch bullpen. So I was always getting the same amount of pitches in a five-day period.”

We talked a bit about the modern state of pitching. Halladay had eight seasons of at least 220 innings, a total no pitcher reached in 2017. He said today’s pitchers, with their turbo fastballs, tried too hard to strike hitters out.

“I felt like with two strikes — 0-2, 1-2 — if they didn’t swing at it, it was going to be strike three,” he said. “I wanted something that they had either had to swing at and put in play, or was going to be a strike on 0-2. Now it’s two extra pitches, and we’re getting back to 2-2 and the count goes on. So I think it’s just changed a lot in the way people think about pitching. They want to stay just off the plate to where they’re avoiding contact.”

Halladay induced weak contact — and so many awkward swings — using the Greg Maddux model of moving the ball in or away on either side of the plate. Hitters knew that Halladay could carve an X in the air, down by their hands or out by their handle, with his sinkers and cutters. He could also lock them up with a curve in the zone, or a split-change — a pitch he learned from Rich Dubee, a Phillies coach — in the dirt.

“I wanted them to swing at every pitch,” he said. And with an arsenal like that, why not?

 

Ties into what I was saying about Halladay's pace and efficiency being so impressive. One of the things I dislike about the smartening of baseball is that it's reduced so much of the game to walks, strikeouts, and home runs. Even if the numbers say that that's the way the game should be played, there's a creeping artlessness to this fear of contact. I know it sounds counterintuitive to praise the aesthetics of inducing a weak groundout down the line over a strikeout on a perfectly placed 12-6 curve, but maybe those strikeouts look less impressive when no hitter is sweating a strikeout. I dunno, Halladay was one of the best of the last decade (I wonder how we'll consider Mark Buehrle, kind of the lefty Halladay with higher highs but a lesser aggregate body of work) and I like pitchers talking pitching.

[FiddySicks]

In a move that I don't think surprises many people, Carlos Beltran announced his retirement today. 

 

In another move that's a bit more surprising, he may be looked at pretty strongly for the Yankees manager job. 

 

http://nypost.com/2017/11/13/carlos-beltran-goes-out-a-champion/

[goalieboy82]

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2017/11/13/sammy-sosa-unrecognizable-in-tweets-showing-baseball-great-with-lightened-skin.html

 

[TBGKon]

Alex Anthopoulos is the new Atlanta GM....

 

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/21402952/atlanta-braves-hire-former-dodgers-blue-jays-exec-alex-anthopoulos-gm

[Lenny Dykstra]

23 hours ago, Bucfan56 said:

In a move that I don't think surprises many people, Carlos Beltran announced his retirement today. 

 

In another move that's a bit more surprising, he may be looked at pretty strongly for the Yankees manager job. 

 

http://nypost.com/2017/11/13/carlos-beltran-goes-out-a-champion/

He should player/manage. That would be rad

[BBTV]

The program cover from Halladay's memorial service today.  Charlie Manuel and Chris Carpenter spoke.  Interesting the family went with a Phillies image for the front.  THere's more of him with the Blue Jays inside.

 

[Tigers6884]

1 hour ago, BringBackTheVet said:

The program cover from Halladay's memorial service today.  Charlie Manuel and Chris Carpenter spoke.  Interesting the family went with a Phillies image for the front.  THere's more of him with the Blue Jays inside.

 

It was pretty hard trying to watch Carpenter's speech without crying

[JayMac]

9 hours ago, BringBackTheVet said:

The program cover from Halladay's memorial service today.  Charlie Manuel and Chris Carpenter spoke.  Interesting the family went with a Phillies image for the front.  THere's more of him with the Blue Jays inside.

 

Maybe because the service was in Clearwater? That may be a reach but I'm figuring that is what it is.

[TBGKon]

2 hours ago, jmac11281 said:

Maybe because the service was in Clearwater? That may be a reach but I'm figuring that is what it is.

That was my thought as well...the service was at the Phillies spring ballpark but there was plenty of Blue Jays representation.

 

[Dalcowboyfan92]

I understand somewhat why they held it in Philly, because he had some success there. Everyone's going to remember his Phillie Perfecto against the Marlins and his post-season no-hitter, but I feel like this is sort of a slap in the face to Toronto.

 

He never got to taste postseason success (at all) because those Jays teams were so terrible. He was often the reason people went to see Jays games in the early-to-mid 2000s (outside of guys like Delgado and the early days of Joey Bats).

[BBTV]

I guess the reason I’m finding it interesting is I’ve been wondering what cap he’d wear if he’s out into the HOF, and since the family put all of that together (even on the inside, the blue jays pics are kinda small and still out numbered) I wonder if that’s a hint that’s their preference (I get it’s not their choic but their input would certainly be considered). 

[JayMac]

I'm a fan of the Phillies but I can say without a doubt, he was a Blue Jay first.

[RichO]

1 hour ago, BringBackTheVet said:

I guess the reason I’m finding it interesting is I’ve been wondering what cap he’d wear if he’s out into the HOF, and since the family put all of that together (even on the inside, the blue jays pics are kinda small and still out numbered) I wonder if that’s a hint that’s their preference (I get it’s not their choic but their input would certainly be considered). 

 

It's not even debatable what team cap he'd have.

 

And the family thought process was probably along the lines of "this is the best looking photo, we like how he's smiling"

[Dalcowboyfan92]

Roy needs to go into the Hall wearing a Jays cap. All respect to Philadelphia, but he started his career there and ended his career there (with one of those 1-day contract thingies).

[ozzyman314]

Judge wins RotY, to the shock of absolutely no one. 

 

Kluber wins AL Cy Young. 300 Strikeouts weren't enough to win it for Sale. Can't really argue (as much as I'd like) since Sale fell off a Cliff towards the end. 

[RichO]

GMs. They're just like us:

 

 

[TBGKon]

On 11/15/2017 at 11:18 AM, Dalcowboyfan92 said:

I understand somewhat why they held it in Philly, because he had some success there. Everyone's going to remember his Phillie Perfecto against the Marlins and his post-season no-hitter, but I feel like this is sort of a slap in the face to Toronto.

 

He never got to taste postseason success (at all) because those Jays teams were so terrible. He was often the reason people went to see Jays games in the early-to-mid 2000s (outside of guys like Delgado and the early days of Joey Bats).

The event was held in Clearwater, FL ballpark (close to where Roy lived after retirement), which just happens to be right down the road from Dunedin where the Blue Jays train.

 

I know for a fact that staff members from the Toronto Florida Operations staff attended and many former players and staff were there.

 

Trust me, Toronto was not misrepresented.  The ceremony had flower arrangements representing Halladay's Phillies number in red and Toronto number in blue.

[SFGiants58]

Jose Altuve is the AL MVP, while Giancarlo Stanton is the NL MVP!