MLB - 2010 Spring Training!

[SlowwHand]

Salary cap started in 1994.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Oh please. We all know that in the 90s, teams like the 49ers and Cowboys played fast and loose with the cap, using their "capologists" to come up with loopholes.

[-Jrabbit]

Hey, that was based on steroids, not payroll.

[Imran Siddiqui]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/baseball/mlb/11/08/phillies.feliz.ap/index.html

The Phillies, smartly, decline Pedro Feliz's option for next year. It would be very interesting to see how good this team can be with a 3B who can actually hit.

[snoopy369]

Anybody else mystified by all the praise Mark Teahen is suddenly getting? I saw this trade and nearly fainted... and yet numerous reasonably 'intelligent' people seem to think Teahan is a 'good bat', or even a 'great bat'.

This is Mr. sub-.750 OPS for two straight years, who even after two reasonably good years (06-07) is still just a .750 (exactly) career OPS hitter. Since when is .750 OPS (and probably sub that) a 'great hitter' or even a 'good' hitter? Check out his similarity scores sometime... they're pretty funny.

Also, KW suggests he's playing 3rd base. Apparently his career UZR/150 of -10 at 3B was just what the Sox are looking for ...

I really hope this is just the first move of the season for KW, and he figures out a better 3B option (Figgins/Beltre/Cantu/etc.) for the 'real' starter...

[Imran Siddiqui]

This is what happens when you trust in your GM more than you should .

[-Jrabbit]

Kenny Williams brought an actual MLB championship to Chicago.

He could perform a ritual sacrifice of his son inside a pentagle and be praised for making a ballsy move.

[Imran Siddiqui]

I know, hence my comment. It's like the "In Theo we trust" comments when the Red Sox did just about nothing last offseason while the Yankees retooled.

[snoopy369]

pentacle

I actually trust KW to have something up his sleeve. I don't like the media being so gung-ho about Teahen, that's all. He's an average player. If they want him to hold down 3B until (insert random Sox minor league 3B here; we have like 3 of them) and not focus as much on winning this year, that's fine. Just tell us.

[Drake Tungsten]

Gold Gloves for Jeter and Teixeira? What a joke...

[-Jrabbit]

I know the Gold Glove awards are an annual joke, but... Jeter??? Surely the AL has a better SS (or 5) than that...

Don't know squat about Tex in the field, so I won't comment on that.

Nice to see Buehrle finally get a GG, though.

[Imran Siddiqui]

They do (better SS than Jeter in the AL). And all the stats sites were having fun with it.

For example:

http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=ss&stats=fld&lg=al&qual=y&type=0&season=2009&month=0

In the UZR (Ultimate Zone Rating in Runs Above Average) rating Fangraphs uses: Cesar Izturis, Elvis Andrus, Adam Everett, and Erick Aybar would have been more deserving than Jeter.

Also can complain about the OF, as Franklin Gutierrez got robbed (as did Ryan Sweeney for that matter).

[Arrian]

The GG awards are quite possibly the biggest joke of them all. As many have pointed out, the voters clearly don't take it seriously.

UZR just plain don't work for 1st basemen (or Catchers). You will even get its creator to basically agree with that comment (with, I suspect, the caveat that it may be better than nothing). Teixiera is a good defender at first, and from what I see, most statistical analysis types don't really have a problem with him getting a GG.

Jeter is clearly undeserving, though less undeserving than ever before. Yay!

Mauer at C is fine, though Barajas, I think, had a case.

Jones/Hunter instead of Guitierrez was more egregious than the others combined. Jones was at least an attempt by voters to pick someone new instead of giving Torii Hunter his bazillionth. Too bad he doesn't actually rate out well.

The NL was as bad or worse.

-Arrian

p.s. On the parity issue - I'm unimpressed with the NFL. Part of that is not really liking the sport, but part of it is that I don't want worst-to-first to be COMMON. Possible, yes. Common, no.

Plan - expand MLB to 32 teams, 16 per league, 4 divisions. One of the new teams goes to NY (or you could move an existing franchise, but the obvious one, Tampa, just sorted out a new stadium deal didn't they?). Expand revenue sharing. See how that goes, tweak as necessary. Salary cap/floor is dumb.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Interesting:

Andrew Bailey (OAK) wins the AL ROY:

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20091115&content_id=7669396&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

Chris Coghlan (FLA) wins the NY ROY:

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20091115&content_id=7669422&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

Not the highest profile names

[-Jrabbit]

Gordon Beckham 5th??

I guess I don't pay enough attention.