2011 MLB Season Thread

[Dexter Morgan]

The derby has become extremely stale. It needs to be spiced up a little.

It's always been stale. What do you want them to do? Use metal bats?

[Dexter Morgan]

You know, Jeter getting his 3,000th hit should be celebrated, no matter which of the 29 Major League Baseball teams he plays for. It's a traditional milestone. Of course, I'd ALSO celebrate 3,001 and his otherwise ascent up the list of hits. He keeps this up for another six or seven years, he might pass Pete Rose.

No way he gets anywhere close to Rose, he's already declining at a fast rate. If I had to guess, around 3,500.

[pmoehrin]

The derby has become extremely stale. It needs to be spiced up a little.

It's always been stale. What do you want them to do? Use metal bats?

I'd actually like to see that. I wanna see 600 foot dingers.

[Dexter Morgan]

I'm not a big fan of the HR derby, but it sure as hell beats the Slam Dunk competition. Seriously...if you lower the net a few feet, I can jump over the hood of my car and dunk it. How lame was that dunk? I actually like the NHL Skills competition the Derby and the Dunk competition.

[FiddySicks]

The derby has become extremely stale. It needs to be spiced up a little.

It's always been stale. What do you want them to do? Use metal bats?

I'd actually like to see that. I wanna see 600 foot dingers.

Me too. Steroids used to make the derby a blast to watch. Remember when Sosa was slamming homers off of the slide in Miller Park? Those were the days. Metal bats would bring that back in a huge way. As it stands right now, it gets old about five minutes in.

[Dexter Morgan]

The derby has become extremely stale. It needs to be spiced up a little.

It's always been stale. What do you want them to do? Use metal bats?

I'd actually like to see that. I wanna see 600 foot dingers.

Me too. Steroids used to make the derby a blast to watch. Remember when Sosa was slamming homers off of the slide in Miller Park? Those were the days. Metal bats would bring that back in a huge way. As it stands right now, it gets old about five minutes in.

I think you just realized over time that batting practice home runs aren't that interesting. I've always felt this way. Tonights Derby was enjoyable because Cano and and Gonzalez have 2 of the sweetest swings in the game. I enjoyed seeing that more than seeing where the ball landed. The ballpark also matters.

[pmoehrin]

The derby has become extremely stale. It needs to be spiced up a little.

It's always been stale. What do you want them to do? Use metal bats?

I'd actually like to see that. I wanna see 600 foot dingers.

Me too. Steroids used to make the derby a blast to watch. Remember when Sosa was slamming homers off of the slide in Miller Park? Those were the days. Metal bats would bring that back in a huge way. As it stands right now, it gets old about five minutes in.

I think you just realized over time that batting practice home runs aren't that interesting. I've always felt this way. Tonights Derby was enjoyable because Cano and and Gonzalez have 2 of the sweetest swings in the game. I enjoyed seeing that more than seeing where the ball landed. The ballpark also matters.

I like the Home Run Derby alot and would watch it no matter what. I just think adding metal bats would be alot more interesting. The home runs go far in the derby, but I've seen regular season dingers go just as far. I wanna see something that I would never see in a regular game.

[rams80]

Skeet shooters trying to bring down the ball.

[loogodude90]

I think it could spice things up a bit if they assigned point values based on where the ball lands. I think part of the excitement should be who hits the furthest home runs, not just who hits the most home runs.

The issue I could see with that, though, is it might require a fair amount of instant replay, which could slow the event down. Still, it might make it more interesting.

[slapshot]

I'd be up for aluminum bats. Let them try to break the screen above centerfield.

Few months from now, no one outside of New York would remember Cano winning the Derby, but everyone would remember JoeyBats taking out the big TV.

[HedleyLamarr]

Here's the perfect way to make the Homerun Derby worth watching again (as well as cutting down on the actual length of the event...no way should this take over 3 hours).

1. Aluminum bats. Let's see balls routinely travel over 500 feet.

2. Pitching machines that throw the ball in the heart of the strikezone each time. Machine gets operated by an umpire.

3. Pitch limits per batter (15-20 sounds about right). No more "outs", but all you get is X-amount of pitches to hit homers. Fans don't pay big money to watch batters keep the bat on their shoulder and take about 55-60% of the pitches tossed their way.

4. None of these time-wasting shenanigans, whether it be a little kid bringing his dad Powerade or teammates/countrymen fanning the batter with a towel after each pitch.

5. Keep Chris "Back back back back back back back back, hello Poughkeepsie!" Berman the hell away from the broadcast booth.

[NJTank]

Just wait til the ASG is at Citi Field as sluggers hit the ball as hards as possible only for it to hit high off the LF Great Wall of Flushing 385 feet away. The stares balls pulled to RF miss the Pepsi porch and hit off the base of the Mo's Zone.

[Dexter Morgan]

Here's the perfect way to make the Homerun Derby worth watching again (as well as cutting down on the actual length of the event...no way should this take over 3 hours).

1. Aluminum bats. Let's see balls routinely travel over 500 feet.

2. Pitching machines that throw the ball in the heart of the strikezone each time. Machine gets operated by an umpire.

3. Pitch limits per batter (15-20 sounds about right). No more "outs", but all you get is X-amount of pitches to hit homers. Fans don't pay big money to watch batters keep the bat on their shoulder and take about 55-60% of the pitches tossed their way.

4. None of these time-wasting shenanigans, whether it be a little kid bringing his dad Powerade or teammates/countrymen fanning the batter with a towel after each pitch.

5. Keep Chris "Back back back back back back back back, hello Poughkeepsie!" Berman the hell away from the broadcast booth.

2 doesn't work. Not all players like pitches in the same spot.

[Dexter Morgan]

Just wait til the ASG is at Citi Field as sluggers hit the ball as hards as possible only for it to hit high off the LF Great Wall of Flushing 385 feet away. The stares balls pulled to RF miss the Pepsi porch and hit off the base of the Mo's Zone.

Aren't they moving the walls in this off-season?

[cameroncrazie07]

Aluminum bats would be very cool to see, but I could see that throwing off a player even more then the Derby does now so that may be a problem. But as you guys said this thing is just plain too long. 3+ hours of basically watching guys take batting practice gets boring after a while. When watching with my friends we were interested for most of the first round and right into the swing-off, but after that it got extremely boring until Cano got up at the end. I agree with Hedley's idea of pitch limits for guys. I think Bautista may have taken the first 10 pitches that he saw, that's just embarrassing. If you don't do a limit though you have to at least penalize someone for taking say 3-4 pitches in a row. If you do that it's an out. So if your pitcher can't throw a strike, you get penalized. The Home Run Derby could be spiced up again but in my opinion at least one of my suggestions has to be added.

[AnythingChicago]

Here's the perfect way to make the Homerun Derby worth watching again (as well as cutting down on the actual length of the event...no way should this take over 3 hours).

1. Aluminum bats. Let's see balls routinely travel over 500 feet.

2. Pitching machines that throw the ball in the heart of the strikezone each time. Machine gets operated by an umpire.

3. Pitch limits per batter (15-20 sounds about right). No more "outs", but all you get is X-amount of pitches to hit homers. Fans don't pay big money to watch batters keep the bat on their shoulder and take about 55-60% of the pitches tossed their way.

4. None of these time-wasting shenanigans, whether it be a little kid bringing his dad Powerade or teammates/countrymen fanning the batter with a towel after each pitch.

5. Keep Chris "Back back back back back back back back, hello Poughkeepsie!" Berman the hell away from the broadcast booth.

1. The players would never enter. It would throw off their swing, and in addition could hurt some fans.

2. As Sam Fuld said last night, live arms are the way to go. I, personally, agree with that. Hitting is all about timing, and it's near impossible to time a pitching machine.

3. But the best part is seeing the players (like Josh Hamilton or Bobby Abreu) hit 25-30 homers!

4. That would ruin the whole fun aspect of this for the players. The players would never want to come if they couldn't have fun with it.

5. Agreed.

[Dexter Morgan]

This annoys me to no end. John Kruk a week ago was complaining how Jeter was selected to start the All-Star game, and now he's complaining he's not going. What a clown.

PHOENIX - Derek Jeter took the baseball world by storm over the weekend, his 3,000th hit representing the highlight of the first half, but when baseball's best gathered for the All-Star Game, the Yankees' captain was nowhere to be found.

And not everyone was happy about it.

"Derek Jeter has done everything right during his whole career," a major-league official said. "He was wrong on this one."

The official said MLB was hoping Jeter would fly out Tuesday, appear on the field during player introductions, tip his cap and then return to New York.

"This could have been a celebration of his 3,000th hit," the official said. "He didn't have to play."

Several players - including a former teammate of Jeter's - disagreed with the Yankee captain's decision to skip the Midsummer Classic.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/yankees/2011/07/11/2011-07-11_mlb_brass_not_happy_with_derek_jeters_decision_to_skip_2011_all_star_game_player.html#ixzz1RuC2FzGl

[pmoehrin]

I think people have every right to knock him for skipping out. Like I said earlier my opinion is that if you skip the All-Star game it should be a three game suspension. If your healthy enough to play immeidately after the break, your healthy enough to play during it as well.

Anytime you make that kind of money there's a responsibility that comes along with it I feel. If your asked to do something like this for the people that give you that salary, you have no excuse to say no in my opnion. Don't like it, then fork back over some of your salary.

I really have no sympathy for anyone in the kind of position Jeter is in, or anyone else for that matter. I don't think going to an All-Star is asking alot.

[NJTank]

Speaking of Jeter the IRS wants to shakedown the fan who caught the ball.

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Fan-Who-Caught-Jeters-3000th-Hit-May-Owe-IRS-Thousands-125406723.html

Fan who did the right thing owes thounsands, GE tax bill $0

Priceless.

[Dexter Morgan]

I think people have every right to knock him for skipping out. Like I said earlier my opinion is that if you skip the All-Star game it should be a three game suspension. If your healthy enough to play immeidately after the break, your healthy enough to play during it as well.

Anytime you make that kind of money there's a responsibility that comes along with it I feel. If your asked to do something like this for the people that give you that salary, you have no excuse to say no in my opnion. Don't like it, then fork back over some of your salary.

I really have no sympathy for anyone in the kind of position Jeter is in, or anyone else for that matter. I don't think going to an All-Star is asking alot.

He's responsible to the Yankees, they are the one's who write his checks, not the All-Star game, that no gives a crap about. The All-Star game has nothing to do with Jeter's salary, that makes no sense.

Every non Yankee fan in the country b-tched for a week that Jeter was on the team in the fist place. Oh but now that he got 3,000 hits he's a bad guy for not going. LOL