:idea: :arrow: Erstad withdrew his name to stay at Nebraska. The hot names still alive in the rumor mill are Bud Black and Dave Roberts...
Bryce Harper...Unanimous MVP, youngest MVP since Johnny Bench in 1970. Last unanimous MVP was Big Al in 2009. Vida Blue was youngest MVP ever..in 1971, followed by Bench in 1970, Stan the Man in 1943 and now Harper. All 22 and some days old. Josh Donaldson of the Blue Jays was the AL MVP>
The Cubs cleaned up during the awards season. Joe Maddon, NL Manager of the Year. Jake Arrieta, NL Cy Young. Kris Bryant, NL Rookie of the Year. I hope this translates to a continued high level of competitiveness in the near future.
re: awards I agree with all the Cubs awards, including Arrieta. Some people don't believe that "Wins" is an important category anymore. I saw one clown on TV last season who said that it should be abolished as a category. This is nonsense. Anyone who ever played as a starting pitcher knows that "Wins" is the MOST important category. Nobody ever asked me what my ERA was or how many strikeouts I had. They asked me if I won... re: Dave Roberts This selection is incredibly popular here in SoCal. I personally love this choice too. Roberts was a very electric player. Dave and I saw him hit an inside-the-park HR at Dodger Stadium a few years back and he could really light up a park with his speed. He has a chance to reach a level of popularity here that Mattingly or even Torre could never have achieved as ex-Yankees...
8) :roll: Yasiel Puig involved in a barroom brawl according to ESPN. He knocked down his own sister and fought with the bouncer which left him (Puig) with a black eye... Can we just get rid of this guy? Many of his teammates despise him, starting with Kershaw. Mattingly put up with his crap, but I can't imagine Roberts doing the same. Rumors have him going everywhere from Cleveland to Houston. It can't happen soon enough for me. You can't make chicken salad out of chicken sh!t...
Hmmm. By itself, the trade won't change the balance of power in the NLW, but it sure will attract attention every time he pitches against the Dodgers.
:idea: :arrow: re: Greinke Even the Dodger management has its limits. The team offered him what they were paying Kershaw and it wasn't enough. He signed with the Dbacks for the largest contract in the history of baseball. I think the team was right. $34.333 million is a tad pricey for a 32 year-old pitcher and he turned down the team's offer of $31 million. He's a good one and he was treated fairly here. We have some super prospects coming up and tons of money to spend on others, so we wish him good luck... I see Jeff Samardzija signed a 5 year deal with Frisco. It will be weird rooting against him... The team has already shed a lot of salary. Kemp was $20 million. Greinke was another $22 million. The old infielders were getting nearly $50 million as a group and they're all gone. Rumors have Crawford, Either, and Puig on the trading block...
Giant's getting serious in the NL West. Signed Jeff Samarzdja and Johnny Cuerto to contracts. While down south the Dodgers lost a starter to the DBacks. I like the Astro's new aquistion to shore up our bullpen, Ken Giles. It did cost us former #1 Mark Appel but he's been struggling some in the minors and probably wasn't going to make the major league staff this season. Maybe he was a mistake, we could have had Kris Bryant. I'm worried a little about the Cardinals, we lost out on David Price and Jason Heyward. Scott Kazmir will not be back with the Astro's I wonder where he will land.
Price is the next Pujols.....signed his retirement contract.....no need to work hard anymore.... Heyward = Non producer at the Bat....good luck Cubbies.
Several years ago the Yankees were thinking of offering Greinke a big contract but never did. They didn't think he had the mental toughness to pitch in New York at that time. Has he changed?
I believe the Cubs wanted him more for his defense, arm, and speed. They know he has a .268 career BA, which is not chopped liver, and that he is a prolific base stealer. I'm not gloating at all. Like I said above, the Cardinals will find someone to take his place and will be as competitive as ever. At least now, the Cards have to look at the Cubs as a threat. That was never the case before last season.
:idea: :arrow: re: Cueto I didn't want him. Maybe I'm wrong, but I didn't think that he would fit in on a staff led by Kershaw. On paper, the Giants staff looks good, with Bumgarner, Cueto and Samardzija, but we still have a chance to be better if the kids come through...
Trouble you say? Right here in River City? NO in Chavez Ravine! http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/14389509/hisashi-iwakuma-los-angeles-dodgers-continue-talks-physical-red-flagged
The Dodgers don't need Iwakuma for anything. As far as I know, they're still after Jose Fernandez and they're stock piling a huge reservoir of young talent to trade for him or someone like him... I didn't like parting with either Jose Peraza or Scott Schebler to obtain the latest batch of phenoms, and I'm getting gun-shy about commenting on any of them, as all may be traded soon. All I know is that I like one of the new kids. His name is Frankie Montas and he's been clocked at a regular 100+ mph, so I hope they keep him...but everything is up in the air right now... One surprise that came out yesterday, was that the Dodgers didn't want Cueto OR Price! I didn't want Cueto either and I'm glad he went to Frisco where we can clobber him, but what's wrong with Price? We've never been able to hit that guy, so somebody on the inside must know something...
I kinda sounded like Jiffer there huh Sid?...... Re: Base Stealer.....if he get's on base..... :wink:
No, AJ. Big difference. You know what you're talking about. You have a great sense of humor. You never beat a dead horse. You enjoy back and forth chain yanking (emphasis on back and forth). Above all, you're a model good sport. Nope. No similarity at all. :wink: