2011 MLB Season Thread

[crashcarson15]

How are the Indians good? It makes zero baseball sense. Every one of those guys on that team is playing over their head.

Yeah, pretty much. That's why it's been so fun - it's been so unexpected. It's the never quit, why not us mentality this team's taken that's making them good. I mean, I can't really explain it either. I guess the baseball gods* felt bad for Cleveland after the LeBron thing.

*Yes, I do believe in the baseball gods.

[FiddySicks]

How are the Indians good? It makes zero baseball sense. Every one of those guys on that team is playing over their head.

Yeah, pretty much. That's why it's been so fun - it's been so unexpected. It's the never quit, why not us mentality this team's taken that's making them good. I mean, I can't really explain it either. I guess the baseball gods* felt bad for Cleveland after the LeBron thing.

*Yes, I do believe in the baseball gods.

I felt the same way about the Giants last year. We

Had the Red Sox win it in 04 to end a drought, then the White Sox did the same the following year. Giants won it to end a drought last year, maybe the Indians will do the same this year.

Poor Cubbies

[Lights Out]

How are the Indians good? It makes zero baseball sense. Every one of those guys on that team is playing over their head.

Ugh. I bet Joe Morgan is thumping his chest and exclaiming, "See? Sabremetrics CAN'T MEASURE HEART! They are EVUL!"

[NJTank]

How are the Indians good? It makes zero baseball sense. Every one of those guys on that team is playing over their head.

Ugh. I bet Joe Morgan is thumping his chest and exclaiming, "See? Sabremetrics CAN'T MEASURE HEART! They are EVUL!"

Exactly, look at the Mets they have played well despite all their injuries this year thanks to Justin Turner and Jason Pridie who will never be confused with stars but they are playing with so much heart they have kept the Mets some what competitive.

[Burning River]

How are the Indians good? It makes zero baseball sense. Every one of those guys on that team is playing over their head.

Pitching. Pitching. Pitching...

Pitching has kept them in every game this year. I think there are only 4-5 bad starts this year. Mix that with some random clutch hitting and ballsy managerial moves. Don't get me wrong, I'm as shocked at 30-15 as anyone! I'm just going to enjoy it!

[TheOldRoman]

The Nationals pretty well disproved the New Stadium Bounce past, I dunno, like the first half of the season or whatever.

Well, the Nats did get a bump of 5,000 people per game while going from bad to horrendous, so that isn't to be completely discounted. Also, it seemed like a lot of Nats fans inexplicably were sentimental about RFK and hated the new park the way Tank and other Mets fans were about Citi and that pile of crap Shea. I don't think anybody will be complaining about the Marlins leaving JoePlayer DolphinShark SunStadium.

[Lee.]

How are the Indians good? It makes zero baseball sense. Every one of those guys on that team is playing over their head.

Yeah, pretty much. That's why it's been so fun - it's been so unexpected. It's the never quit, why not us mentality this team's taken that's making them good. I mean, I can't really explain it either. I guess the baseball gods* felt bad for Cleveland after the LeBron thing.

*Yes, I do believe in the baseball gods.

Belief in the Baseball Gods has caused most of us Cubs fans to turn atheist.

[Seadragon76]

I'm feeling giddy now that the Mariners have a shot at .500!

Thank you for giving them some weaklings, schedule makers!

[infrared41]

How are the Indians good? It makes zero baseball sense. Every one of those guys on that team is playing over their head.

Going into the season I thought the Indians would be lucky to win 65 games. It sounds silly when it's put this way, but here is something to consider. If the Indians can continue to play .625-650 baseball for about 25 more games, they would be in position to only need to play .500 the rest of the way and still cruise to around 92 wins. (I haven't done the exact math so I may be off by a game or two.) Three and a half more weeks of their current pace followed by .500 ball the rest of the season in all likelihood wins that division for them. Just some food for thought.

And to answer your question Mac, I have no idea how they're doing it either. But we know there is usually one team a season that comes out of nowhere. Maybe it's the Tribe this year. Stranger things have happened...not much stranger but they have happened.

It's a good idea to stay away from the walls around here these days. Otherwise, you might get run over by all the tribe fans coming out of the wood work.

[mania]

The Indians pitching has overachieved by a decent level compared to their peripherals. Middle of MLB in FIP/xFIP, 5th in ERA. It's not particularly sustainable, but with the rest of the division it might not need to be.

[pmoehrin]

Add more on to the Mets problems.

The team is set to lose about $70 million this year according to Fred Wilpon.

There's a few ways you can take it. One is to say that he's overstating how bad the problem really is. Its very easy for owners to turn profits into "loses" and I have yet to hear an owner ever say they are making money. It would also seem strange that he would publically state that the team is losing money when he is trying to attract investors, but I've seen it done before and it kind of goes back to my first point.

The other way to take it would be to say that he is telling the truth and that the Mets really are set to lose $70 million this year, which would beg the question how on earth can this team lose $70 million? That means even if the Mets were paying their players nothing they would be making $50 million. By compairison the Marlins have turned $30 million profits in seasons where their payroll was somewhere in the $20 million range. So Wilpon is basically implying that the New York Mets are as profitable as the Florida Marlins, which I just can't find believeable.

However you look at it though, it just adds more trash to the huge mess that the Mets situation has turned into. The only hope for them I'd say is an MLB takeover. What I think is going on is that Wilpon is taking money out of the Mets and putting it into his own pocket to save himself as is the case I feel with the Dodgers and Frank McCourt.

[infrared41]

The Indians pitching has overachieved by a decent level compared to their peripherals. Middle of MLB in FIP/xFIP, 5th in ERA. It's not particularly sustainable, but with the rest of the division it might not need to be.

I don't know what any of that means but if you're saying you can't see them playing at this pace for the entire season, I agree.

[Sport]

How are the Indians good? It makes zero baseball sense. Every one of those guys on that team is playing over their head.

Going into the season I thought the Indians would be lucky to win 65 games. It sounds silly when it's put this way, but here is something to consider. If the Indians can continue to play .625-650 baseball for about 25 more games, they would be in position to only need to play .500 the rest of the way and still cruise to around 92 wins. (I haven't done the exact math so I may be off by a game or two.) Three and a half more weeks of their current pace followed by .500 ball the rest of the season in all likelihood wins that division for them. Just some food for thought.

And to answer your question Mac, I have no idea how they're doing it either. But we know there is usually one team a season that comes out of nowhere. Maybe it's the Tribe this year. Stranger things have happened...not much stranger but they have happened.

It's a good idea to stay away from the walls around here these days. Otherwise, you might get run over by all the tribe fans coming out of the wood work.

Thank you.

[Lights Out]

The Indians pitching has overachieved by a decent level compared to their peripherals. Middle of MLB in FIP/xFIP, 5th in ERA. It's not particularly sustainable, but with the rest of the division it might not need to be.

I don't know what any of that means but if you're saying you can't see them playing at this pace for the entire season, I agree.

FIP: Fielding Independent Pitching. It shows the quality of a pitcher's performance without defense and randomness included.

xFIP: Expected Fielding Independent Pitching. Basically the same as FIP but it replaces a pitcher's own home-run rate with the league average.

[infrared41]

The Indians pitching has overachieved by a decent level compared to their peripherals. Middle of MLB in FIP/xFIP, 5th in ERA. It's not particularly sustainable, but with the rest of the division it might not need to be.

I don't know what any of that means but if you're saying you can't see them playing at this pace for the entire season, I agree.

FIP: Fielding Independent Pitching. It shows the quality of a pitcher's performance without defense and randomness included.

xFIP: Expected Fielding Independent Pitching. Basically the same as FIP but it replaces a pitcher's own home-run rate with the league average.

Yeah, that didn't help. I'm not in the "Sabermetrics are EVUL!" camp or anything but that doesn't change the fact that none of what you said makes a bit of sense to me. Are you guys saying that based on these numbers, the Indians won't play like this the entire season? If so, then I agree.

[TFoA]

The Indians pitching has overachieved by a decent level compared to their peripherals. Middle of MLB in FIP/xFIP, 5th in ERA. It's not particularly sustainable, but with the rest of the division it might not need to be.

Exactly. It won't take a particularly spectacular season to win the 2011 AL Central, from the looks of it. The Indians have set themselves up pretty nicely with this start. As long as they don't hit a crazy slump during the dog days, they could be in the thick of it come September.

[Don]

*sigh* Manny Acta...

[NJTank]

Add more on to the Mets problems.

The team is set to lose about $70 million this year according to Fred Wilpon.

There's a few ways you can take it. One is to say that he's overstating how bad the problem really is. Its very easy for owners to turn profits into "loses" and I have yet to hear an owner ever say they are making money. It would also seem strange that he would publically state that the team is losing money when he is trying to attract investors, but I've seen it done before and it kind of goes back to my first point.

The other way to take it would be to say that he is telling the truth and that the Mets really are set to lose $70 million this year, which would beg the question how on earth can this team lose $70 million? That means even if the Mets were paying their players nothing they would be making $50 million. By compairison the Marlins have turned $30 million profits in seasons where their payroll was somewhere in the $20 million range. So Wilpon is basically implying that the New York Mets are as profitable as the Florida Marlins, which I just can't find believeable.

However you look at it though, it just adds more trash to the huge mess that the Mets situation has turned into. The only hope for them I'd say is an MLB takeover. What I think is going on is that Wilpon is taking money out of the Mets and putting it into his own pocket to save himself as is the case I feel with the Dodgers and Frank McCourt.

I think that is obvious Fred Coupon is a con man extraordinaire and he will turn the Mets into the Pirates trying to sell the ballpark while making a profit and screwing the fans. That has been his goal all along, now that Madoff is no longer pumping extra money for payroll.

[ninersdd]

Barry Bonds is a great guy.....http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/05/24/barry-bonds-to-pay-for-bryan-stows-kids-to-go-to-college/

[NJTank]

I never been a fan of Barry but he does deserve applause for this.