2014 MLB Season Thread

[cmm]

Pineda's a moron. He's far from the only pitcher to use pine tar or something to get a better grip on the ball, but to be so blatant about it twice in 2 weeks against the same team? He should get 10 games for the pine tar since it's an automatic suspension and another 10 for being so stupid.

[MEANS]

Jose Abreu is a BEAST.

[Kramerica Industries]

I really, really want to snark about the Red Sox being hypocrites and everything, but they really had no choice last night.

Mike, buddy, try to be more obvious with the pine tar next time. I'm sure you can pull it off.

[Still MIGHTY]

That Angels bullpen though...

This team could be good. They could contend for an AL West title. But the bullpen is an absolute dumpster fire, and thus, they're bad.

[Soarindude]

That Angels bullpen though...

This team could be good. They could contend for an AL West title. But the bullpen is an absolute dumpster fire, and thus, they're bad.

Reminds me of several bad teams in the league. That's usually the downfall for a lot of teams.

[dbadefense1990]

That Angels bullpen though...

This team could be good. They could contend for an AL West title. But the bullpen is an absolute dumpster fire, and thus, they're bad.

At least the offense this year has Anaheim in the cusp of .500, if they can get over it.

The bullpen, though. After Weaver and C.J., the list on that depth chart are full of no-knowns and past-primes. Unless you're a diehard Angels follower, the pen has the rumblings of a minor league team to casual fans.

[Sport]

11-11 sounds so good when you were 3-8.

Nice job Reds. I can't wait to see how this team looks when Latos and the bullpen get healthy.

[Still MIGHTY]

That Angels bullpen though...

This team could be good. They could contend for an AL West title. But the bullpen is an absolute dumpster fire, and thus, they're bad.

At least the offense this year has Anaheim in the cusp of .500, if they can get over it.

The bullpen, though. After Weaver and C.J., the list on that depth chart are full of no-knowns and past-primes. Unless you're a diehard Angels follower, the pen has the rumblings of a minor league team to casual fans.

I mean, there's literally a guy named Joe Smith... Joe ing Smith... how can you be any more nondescript?

[Shumway]

That Angels bullpen though...

This team could be good. They could contend for an AL West title. But the bullpen is an absolute dumpster fire, and thus, they're bad.

At least the offense this year has Anaheim in the cusp of .500, if they can get over it.

The bullpen, though. After Weaver and C.J., the list on that depth chart are full of no-knowns and past-primes. Unless you're a diehard Angels follower, the pen has the rumblings of a minor league team to casual fans.

I mean, there's literally a guy named Joe Smith... Joe ing Smith... how can you be any more nondescript?

...and he's probably the best reliever on the team.

I think Angels' fans have all but given up on asking why Butcher still has a job. It's unfortunately probably going to take Sosh getting fired to get rid of him (then again, I thought the same of Hatcher).

[cmm]

At least Joe Smith's (ex-Met!) funky sidearm delivery isn't as bland as his name.

[NJTank]

I think banning pitchers from using pinetar is dumb, it has no effect on the ball like a spitter. In addition i rather have pitchers be able to grip and know where the ball will go than accidentally hit someone in the face. You see what happened to delino deshields jr.

[Still MIGHTY]

I think Angels' fans have all but given up on asking why Butcher still has a job. It's unfortunately probably going to take Sosh getting fired to get rid of him (then again, I thought the same of Hatcher).

Butcher should have been fired even before Hatcher was. It's not like this is a new problem.

And the worst part is, with the pitching, it's not Scioscia or even DiPoto's fault. Obviously Butcher isn't good, but he doesn't have a ton to work with either. This is Arte's fault. He goes on his own to offer Hamilton and Pujols those ridiculous contracts, cash-wise. (Pujols probably had to be that, and Trout too, but Hamilton sure as hell didn't need to be) Then he gives DiPoto a limited amount of money to fill out the rest of the roster.

But you can't fire the owner and that money is on the books for a while. If Arte wants to involve himself with the big deals to Pujols and Hamilton, then he has to involve himself with the little deals in the bullpen. If you're gonna spend the money, spend it everywhere. Otherwise, we're stuck with Ernesto Frieri closing blowing games.

[wonderbread]

I think banning pitchers from using pinetar is dumb, it has no effect on the ball like a spitter. In addition i rather have pitchers be able to grip and know where the ball will go than accidentally hit someone in the face. You see what happened to delino deshields jr.

That's why they have a rosin bag, pine tar does affect the pitches because it causes the ball to break more.

[monkeypower]

I think Angels' fans have all but given up on asking why Butcher still has a job. It's unfortunately probably going to take Sosh getting fired to get rid of him (then again, I thought the same of Hatcher).

Butcher should have been fired even before Hatcher was. It's not like this is a new problem.

And the worst part is, with the pitching, it's not Scioscia or even DiPoto's fault. Obviously Butcher isn't good, but he doesn't have a ton to work with either. This is Arte's fault. He goes on his own to offer Hamilton and Pujols those ridiculous contracts, cash-wise. (Pujols probably had to be that, and Trout too, but Hamilton sure as hell didn't need to be) Then he gives DiPoto a limited amount of money to fill out the rest of the roster.

But you can't fire the owner and that money is on the books for a while. If Arte wants to involve himself with the big deals to Pujols and Hamilton, then he has to involve himself with the little deals in the bullpen. If you're gonna spend the money, spend it everywhere. Otherwise, we're stuck with Ernesto Frieri closing blowing games.

I think Arte got too high on himself and what he thought he could accomplish, so he tried to compete with the big teams and failed. The name change, the big signings that had his fingerprints on them, etc.

IIRC, I remember reading and hearing that Arte was the "cool" owner. He would walk around and talk to fans and stuff, but now he stays away. I don't know if that's true or not though.

[Still MIGHTY]

IIRC, I remember reading and hearing that Arte was the "cool" owner. He would walk around and talk to fans and stuff, but now he stays away. I don't know if that's true or not though.

That is true. He doesn't hang around and interact with the fans nearly as much as he used to. I honestly don't even know how often he comes to the games.

[dbadefense1990]

IIRC, I remember reading and hearing that Arte was the "cool" owner. He would walk around and talk to fans and stuff, but now he stays away. I don't know if that's true or not though.

That is true. He doesn't hang around and interact with the fans nearly as much as he used to. I honestly don't even know how often he comes to the games.

I think by now, he's given up riding his own, "I'm the best owner in professional sports because I lowered beer prices" cottail. That only goes so far.

[CS85]

Watching Indians/Giants and here's some stray baseball thoughts:

• Really love the AT&T Park. Layout has the modern/classic feel and the water beyond right field is a unique aesthetic.
• Indians look, while kind of plain jane, has some good groundwork laid to not require much of an alteration if/when they drop the Indians/Chief Wahoo aspect of their brand.
• Tim Lincecum's mustache is horrifying.

[Tigers6884]

Can we go ahead and name Brad Ausmus the king of the challenge? He's saved a lot of umpires from criticism by Tigers fans this season.

[Kramerica Industries]

Albert Pujols finally looks healthy.

You know what else Albert Pujols is doing? Ripping the damn cover off the ball.

.299/.358/.639/.998, 15 extra base hits (6 doubles, 9 HRs). Compared to 2012 (.285/.343/.516/.859), this is an improvement. Compared to 2013 (.258/.330/.437/.767) it's fantastic.

Small sample size? Pujols did not have a month last season where he came in the ballpark of a .998 OPS (.831 in July was his best and this was his final month of the season). He did rip the cover off the ball between June-August in 2012 but this was three excellent months surrounded by a dreadful April and pedestrian May (.800) and September (.777).

Plantar fasciitis is a bitch, isn't it?

[ninersdd]

Watching Indians/Giants and here's some stray baseball thoughts:

• Really love the AT&T Park. Layout has the modern/classic feel and the water beyond right field is a unique aesthetic.
• Indians look, while kind of plain jane, has some good groundwork laid to not require much of an alteration if/when they drop the Indians/Chief Wahoo aspect of their brand.
• Tim Lincecum's mustache is horrifying.

Pretty much nailed all three points. To me, it seems like Cleveland should keep their colors and obviously dump Wahoo, but also could use a complete rebrand/rebuild of everything in the near future if/when that happens IMO.