Well, scratch that. Back to the weather screwing over the Cubs again. Washington apparently can't get their stories straight, but Strasburg is starting today. Hopefully he's not right and they can knock him around.
Congrats to the Astros for taking the first two of the ALCS. Now, I'll root for them to take the rest of the series in 7. NCLS Game One. Lets go Cubs! If Quintana can't give the Cubs more than four or five innings tonight after being used in Game 5 of the DS, and/or they're down by 4+ runs, then I would just put in Lackey and let him go as long as he could. Don't lose the war trying to win the most difficult battle.
Pitching matchups for both teams in the NLCS now announced. Game 2 Sunday: Lester vs Hill Game 3 Tuesday: Darvish vs Hendricks Game 4 Wednesday: Wood vs Arrieta Which would like mean a game 5 rematch of Kershaw vs Quintana, and the Cubs would start Lester in LA in a potential Game 6, leaving both Henricks and Arrieta, plus John Lackey and long reliever Mike Montgomery, available for a game 7. I like the thought process.
He's also led them to three of the six NLCS appearances in team history, in addition to of course winning the title last year. When Maddon eventually goes, it will be gracefully. He won't be the Cubs manager for a ton more years, given that he'll be 64 next season, but he's earned his mark in team history.
The Nationals and Dodgers obviously have very good pitching staffs, but the Cubs bats are inept this post season. They badly miss what Dexter Fowler brought to the team the last few years, and need to find a way to trade for someone similar for 2018. Their offensive strategy is terrific in the regular season, when they can wear out a staff and then destroy #3-5 starters and middle relief. Wins a lot of games. But it doesn't work in the post season, at least in the NL.
Tonight is a sad end to the Cubs season, but it remains the best three year period in over 100 years for the franchise, and they'll be a solid team for years to come. Hopefully, tonight is the explanation point on the fact that's been hammered all post season that they need to make a few changes in their lineup. They desperately need a guy who can get on base at the top of the order and make things happen. People are going to hammer the bullpen, but when you score 1-3 runs a game, the pen isn't your main problem.
As an outsider it seems like the starting pitching and bullpen is a bigger problem moving forward than the line up. They will need to replace 2 SPers this offseason and a closer. They also need to figure out what to do with Schwarber as I think he's probably best suited for an AL team where he can play 1B and DH. But yeah probably need to upgrade in the OF too.
I am wearing head to toe Dodgers stuff today, and while on stage tonight. Yes, I am going to be THAT guy. And I want The Yankees in the Series.
Starting pitching should be allright. Not great, like 2015 and 16, but good enough. Lester, Hendricks, and Quintana are a really solid 1-3, and Mike Montgomery should take one of the other two spots. We need to find a 4th starter, probably from the outside. The lineup is more than good enough to be top three in the NL again, and lead the team to 95+ wins in 2018. But vs the top pitching staffs, there's just something missing. I would imagine that Schwarber will be traded to the AL like you suggest, either for pitching or a more dynamic left fielder. We don't need the power really. We need on base and base running skills.
If the Dodgers win I'll be happy for Grandy. As a Mets fan he gave us 3+ years and is all class. But I also can't help but like Correa, Altuve, Springer, etc. that's a fun team in Houston.
TV coverage was bad when I was young. Most of the baseball games I had to listen to on the radio. I do remember Koufax as a kid and was very impressed.
Holy cow. Now I have to wonder if Joe Maddon will "retire" from the Cubs and they'll go after Girardi.
Congrats to the Astros in their first championship. The only teams left who have never won a WS are the Rangers (2 appearances), Padres (2), Rays (1), Rockies (1), Brewers (1), Mariners (0) and Nationals/Expos (0). And we go from a 30 year drought with the Royals, to a 108 year one with the Cubs, to the Astros who had never won in their 56 seasons prior. And I think that everyone who said it was wrong or silly for both the Cubs and Astros to rebuild the way that they did looks pretty silly right now. Both teams will be contenders for a long time.
Man, this has to be the slowest start to a MLB offseason in history. Just nothing. Its been nearly a month. Everyone seems to be waiting for someone else to make the first move.
Yeah it has been pretty slow. I think it's a mixture of the free agent class being poor and teams/players/agents are probably waiting to see where Stanton goes. He's the first domino to go and whatever teams lose out on him will focus on Martinez and go from there. Usually moves start taking place at the Winter Meetings coming up next week though.
It’s going to be slow imo...the Mets, Yankees and Red Sox aren’t looking to spend big (Supposedly) and the Dodgers don’t need a lot. That’s 3 big spenders and one that can spend but won’t (Mets) out on many free agents. The Mets supposedly are looking at bringing back, Neil Walker or Jay Bruce or bringing in Logan Morrison. Bryan Shaw (Callaway connection makes sense), Brandon Kitzler and other RPs have been linked as well. Alderson wants a innings eating SP (Lynn, CC Sabathia, among others have been mentioned), a 1B/OF type, an RP and possibly a 2B within about 40M. Personally, I want Wilmer Flores to get a shot at 2B. His power stats project well, he slaughters lefties, and his defense isn’t any worse than Walker or Asdrubal Cabrera at 2B. I wouldn’t mind bringing back Bruce on a 2-3 year deal as a safety net for Dom Smith who flashed but wasn’t consistent during his call up. 3B is really my biggest concern but want neither Moustakas or Frazier as the Mets strikeout enough and don’t want the 20M a year albatross that Moustakas contract is destined to become.
Ohtani has narrowed his choices down to the Mariners, Giants, Angels, Padres, Dodgers, Rangers and Cubs. If can transition to MLB, he's an incredibly interesting guy. A starting pitcher who can also hit well, play the OF, and contribute as a PH on his days between starts. He essentially saves a team a roster spot, and allows for more roster flexibility.
Just traded dee gordon to the Mariners... cant tell you how much this stings, he is a fan favorite... If they trade ozuna or yelich or both, ima go crazy. Especially Ozuna. He is an all star batter and gold glover
I just saw that. I would have loved for the Cubs to trade for him and put him in CF. We need someone like him at the top of the lineup.
Stanton doesnt seem too eager to waive his NTC, the purpose of the NTC was so that he can have control of where he is going to be the rest of his career. He isnt willing to go to another team just so that trade him again after a bad season. And jeter pretends he had full control of Stanton but he doesnt. Stanton is in control and that bothers Jeter so now he traded away Stanton’s bestfriend on the team.
He allegedly has refused to go to St Louis and SF, which is awesome from my perspective He apparently has the Yankees, Dodgers, Astros and Cubs on his short list now. The Cubs don't have prospects to make any kind of deal, but I wonder how they can get creative. A deal would certainly start with Kyle Schwarber and go from there.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...-with-angels-over-mariners-dodgers-and-others Ohtani signs with the Angels. It'll be interesting to see how they use him. However, as a Cubs/NL fan living on the East Coast, he might as well still be in Japan, lol.
He wants to DH on his days off. Just a prediction, if his bat is as good as marketed, he wont be a pitcher for long. It’s been a while since we have had a true ace come from Japan. Yu Darvish is one out of many, and that if he ever gets back to 2013 form. Ohtani has his bat to fall back on if his pitching doesnt translate well in this league
Theres a bird out there saying that stanton vetoing the trade and gordon getting traded are definitely linked. Jeter is angry.
And make no mistake there is much coincidence on Stanton’s short list all being teams that would have trouble making room for his salary and at the same time would have to gut their farm system/main core just to get them in. There is no salary cap but all teams have a budget. The dodgers are the least likely of the four to make it happen, they are in a pretty tough financial situation.
I was thinking that they were the MOST likely. The Yankees are said to be unlikely also. The Cubs writers are all saying not to get your hopes up.
I want to throw up. Jeter is about to trade Stanton to New York for nothing. If that happens i might give up on the team. And i thought Loria was bad, **** Derek jeter, get the **** out of this team.
Jeter trading Stanton to the NYY wreaks "Hey Cashman, its your old pal Jeets...." Although from a Mets-Marlins standpoint its good, from a Mets-NYY standpoint now i have to hear fair weather NYY fans popping up like whack-a-moles :/
Just gonna leave these here: A quick recap: Jeter bought the Marlins using mostly other people’s money, completely gutted them, pushed out a bunch of longtime employees, and traded their once-in-a-Generation player to the Yankees. 10:25 AM · Dec 9, 2017 https://twitter.com/BillSimmons Baseball teaming up with Jeter to give him a baseball team - and Jeter turning around and trading the MVP to his old team while screwing South Florida — feels like Wall Street fraud 9:25 AM · Dec 9, 2017 https://twitter.com/LeBatardShow?re...acquisition-of-giancarlo-stanton-from-marlins Jon Heyman @JonHeyman jeter helped the yankees win 5 world series. and counting ... 9:05 AM · Dec 9, 2017
Well im going to start looking for a new team to root for until jeter is gone. I wont be following the Marlins any longer. I expect him to sell his share in a few years after a few bad losing seasons. And then ill come back. Marlins are expected to trade Ozuna and Yelich and theyre both expected to ask for a trade regardless. Ozuna is the big prize, he will get 200+ million on his next contract because he is that good.