Dolfan in NYC Posted April 5, 2015 Posted April 5, 2015 Opening Day! St. Louis plays Chicago in the construction site known as Wrigley. Watch and see if the walls collapse! Cleveland has locked up Corey Kluber for 5 years (no financials disclosed). Time for baseball!
Kyle Casey Posted April 5, 2015 Posted April 5, 2015 I've long thought the first day of the baseball season should be a national holiday.
Joe Lucia Posted April 5, 2015 Posted April 5, 2015 Kimbrel and BJ Upton to the Padres for Maybin, Quentin, and stuff. My god.
The Man Known as Dan Posted April 5, 2015 Posted April 5, 2015 Kimbrel and BJ Upton to the Padres for Maybin, Quentin, and stuff. My god. That.... is one heck of an odd trade.
Joe Lucia Posted April 5, 2015 Posted April 5, 2015 They dumped *a lot* of salary, and didn't pick up all that much with Quentin and Maybin. They got back a comp draft pick (41st overall) which has value, an excellent prospect in Wisler, and a wild card prospect in...the guy who's name I can't spell because I'm dumb. The timing is what baffles me more than anything else.
The Man Known as Dan Posted April 5, 2015 Posted April 5, 2015 I thought the odd part was what the Padres added. Kimbrel is good, sure, but I'm not sure how much of an upgrade Upton is on that infield. And that's a terrible infield
FireThunder Posted April 5, 2015 Posted April 5, 2015 Jon Lester batting 8th tonight, La Stella batting 9th. ... interesting.
muhammedboehm Posted April 6, 2015 Posted April 6, 2015 Jon Lester batting 8th tonight, La Stella batting 9th. ... interesting. The ESPN guys said the reason is since Lester isn't going to pitch late in the game Madden wanted to flexibility of the pinch hitter there.* *thats what they said have no idea if that's crap or not cause I'm pretty stupid when it comes to baseball.
cubbymark Posted April 6, 2015 Posted April 6, 2015 Tony LaRussa would approve of Lester batting 8th.
Joe Lucia Posted April 6, 2015 Posted April 6, 2015 Upton hasn't been an infielder for years. The Braves were demanding that any team that wanted Kimbrel needed to take Upton as well...which explains why the Padres also sent a pair of their own junk contracts over.
muhammedboehm Posted April 6, 2015 Posted April 6, 2015 So I thought batters had to keep a foot in the box during at bats?
hammerva Posted April 6, 2015 Posted April 6, 2015 Chicago big screen/video wall looks like something from a Nintendo baseball game. I guess you can call that progress
The Nature Boy Posted April 6, 2015 Posted April 6, 2015 I am getting a weird joy out of seeing Jon Lester lose right now.
Tabe Posted April 6, 2015 Posted April 6, 2015 Jon Lester batting 8th tonight, La Stella batting 9th. ... interesting. The ESPN guys said the reason is since Lester isn't going to pitch late in the game Madden wanted to flexibility of the pinch hitter there.**thats what they said have no idea if that's crap or not cause I'm pretty stupid when it comes to baseball. It's crap.
The Man Known as Dan Posted April 6, 2015 Posted April 6, 2015 Actually, it's built more to set up the 9 hole hitter as a "second leadoff hitter". Basically, LaStella, who is known for his plate recognizition and (in theory) a potentially high batting average, to Fowler, to Soler at the 2, when he he's more a prototypical 4 hitter. Most tend to agree it's the right call. We'll be doing it most of the year.
Joe Lucia Posted April 6, 2015 Posted April 6, 2015 So I thought batters had to keep a foot in the box during at bats? Except when they swing and miss, when they foul a ball off, or when a ball is in the dirt. I think. Pretty much, they can't just take a pitch and go into a 30 second routine.
Leviathan West Posted April 6, 2015 Posted April 6, 2015 Well those new rules shortened the game to... 3 hours and 25 minutes. Improvement! Actually, poor Lester took a beating out there and the Cubs couldn't capitalize on any momentum they had. That stadium looks like a shithouse except for the video screen. The real fun begins today!
TimWresPowr Posted April 6, 2015 Posted April 6, 2015 I kind of felt this before the Kimbrel trade but as a Braves fan for 30+ years I really feel kind of in limbo a bit on my fandom at this point. I can 100% see what they are trying to do from a business perspective. And I completely understand that they can't fess up publicly that they are in rebuilding mode either for business reasons. But when a team only returns 6 guys on a roster from one year to the next I can't help but feel like they kind of turned their back on the fanbase by getting rid of so many guys. On one hand I have no desire to follow a team that appears to be in for nothing but struggles for the next 2 years but on the other hand, most of the frustrations of the past 2 years were due to underperforming. Now there are zero expectations for this team to live up to. They are painting this as if clubhouse camraderie and teamwork will overcome the lack of name talent, but a lack of talent will eventually be their downfall I feel. Part of me really wishes I could be as invested this year as I typically am but part of me is looking forward to spending time on other things.
Kuetsar Posted April 6, 2015 Posted April 6, 2015 I kind of felt this before the Kimbrel trade but as a Braves fan for 30+ years I really feel kind of in limbo a bit on my fandom at this point. I can 100% see what they are trying to do from a business perspective. And I completely understand that they can't fess up publicly that they are in rebuilding mode either for business reasons. But when a team only returns 6 guys on a roster from one year to the next I can't help but feel like they kind of turned their back on the fanbase by getting rid of so many guys. On one hand I have no desire to follow a team that appears to be in for nothing but struggles for the next 2 years but on the other hand, most of the frustrations of the past 2 years were due to underperforming. Now there are zero expectations for this team to live up to. They are painting this as if clubhouse camraderie and teamwork will overcome the lack of name talent, but a lack of talent will eventually be their downfall I feel. Part of me really wishes I could be as invested this year as I typically am but part of me is looking forward to spending time on other things. Its been all downhill since Turner sold/lost control of the team. . . .
Cristobal Posted April 6, 2015 Posted April 6, 2015 On one hand I have no desire to follow a team that appears to be in for nothing but struggles for the next 2 years Fair weather fan. 2
cubbymark Posted April 6, 2015 Posted April 6, 2015 The Braves situation feels like Marlins in reverse. Be competitive or give the appearance of being competitive all the while gunning for a new stadium, then wait for completion of said stadium and completely gut the team. Atlanta basically said, "Fuck that, we got a new stadium. Never mind it isn't built yet, but let's blow the whole thing up anyway."
Craig H Posted April 6, 2015 Posted April 6, 2015 Well before Deadspin got a hold of the information, season ticket holders I know and other friends at Wrigley Field last night (I should have been there too, but that's another story) were talking about a bathroom situation at the ballpark. Turns out that because of the ongoing construction some of the bathrooms were not open causing a line to wrap around the concourse. It got so bad that one of my friends sent me a text saying he was granted a pass written on a some Cubs letterhead with an employees contact info and a note saying this person can be let back into the park so they could go to the bathroom outside the park. That is fucking insane. What is even more insane is that I have left the bleachers before and was allowed to come back in without any sort of "hall pass." It sounds like employees were just scrambling like crazy. Blame Kenny Crane on this one. The original plan was to play a season in Milwaukee in 2012 or 2013 feeling that the team wouldn't be competitive and there wouldn't be a huge impact playing a season away. Now that they're competitive, hopefully, they can't afford to play a season elsewhere. That's all besides the point because they tried to play nice with the rooftops for the longest fucking time and then in 2014 their stance became, "we're bringing this to the city for approval and we're moving forward, so sue us." Had they called the rooftops bluff back in 2012, we wouldn't even be talking about this shit. Pardon the pun. The video board looked nice at least.
Craig H Posted April 6, 2015 Posted April 6, 2015 Also, I do believe the "pee in cup" photo is bullshit and was stage with some beer cups, but it does illustrate how bad things were.
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