2012 MLB Regular Season Running Thread

I get what you're saying, but this team seems so ripe for him to do what he's doing. Dempster's a FA. Soriano is a FA after, I believe, next year, right? Soto and Marmol are so expendable. It just seems like he came in right at the time when the value of a lot of his poker chips were at their peak, as commodities. I think if he comes in two years ago or even last year, he tries to succeed, as you say, on those parallel fronts. But I think that in the current situation, it would be wasting an opportunity that is sitting on a tee for him.

 

Out West, the Dodgers have now dropped seven of their last nine and let the Giants get to within two games. Their schedule stays tough before the break and their hitting has gone into a well lately. It will be interesting to see if this is just a blip caused by injuries or if the Dodgers were perhaps outperforming their abilities for the first part of the season and are regressing back to their norm.

Also, Kemp is likely going to sit out the All-Star Game even though he's receiving the most votes. Although they are considering letting him participate in the HR Derby even if he hasn't come back to the team yet. I understand that the main issue with a hamstring injury is running and not hitting, but that seems daffy at best to even consider it.

http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/mlb/story/_/id/8095912/los-angeles-dodgers-outfielder-matt-kemp-all-ruled-all-star-game

 

93, Ryan, you make very good points. I think you're both right.

It may just be from where I'm sitting, but it seems that when somebody comes through the Eastern League and makes everyone look sick, they usually show some of that quickly in the majors.

Where it goes from there with arm/elbow trouble, being with the right team, etc., varies.

 

Soriano has two more years left after this one, but yeah, I get your point.

About 18 months from now, Epstein will have a major-market team in a small-market division, with virtually no payroll commitments, at least two solid, under-24 MLB starters (Castro, Rizzo) and a top farm system with a recent run of high draft picks.

That kind of blank canvas isn't even a once-in-a-lifetime chance for an executive. Most executives will never see a chance like that. If he doesn't convert that into a really, really good team for a sustained period, he can't blame anyone but himself.

 

Good lord.

Funny, though, how the difference between that being a good deal and it being considered one of the worst deals of all time in Chicago is that the Cubs got cold for the wrong three-day span two years in a row.

 

My guess? Minimum of three 100-win seasons in a five-year period. Plus/minus 94 wins as the lowest total in that five-year period, starting in 2015, maybe 2014.

They could go on an Atlanta Braves '90s-type run.

 

It was always a bad deal. He was a very good player being paid like a great player because he happened to be the best in a weak FA class.

But it's never been *as* bad as some people think. He's just the latest in a long line of Cubs fans' scapegoats who coincidentally happened to all be not white.

 

That pretty much nails it.

 

Look at that year in Washington, though. He was a great player. And he was 30, when it is totally possible for a player to be entering his prime. In fact, at that point, I would have put his Hall of Fame odds at well over 50-50. Well over.

The problem is that the walks he drew that year were an aberration, not the start of a trend for him. And he's never stolen 20 bases for the Cubs, let alone 40.

 

30 is way too late for prime. Every player is different, of course, but primes tend to be a lot earlier than people think. 24-28 is most player's primes. Especially players who have a lot of middle-infield innings on their legs.

 

Don't forget it was only a few years prior that guys were bashing 40-70 HRs a year in their late 30s. And that Soriano is probably two or three years older than he says.

 

Unless things have changed this season with the Orioles' success, you should be able to sit anywhere you want once you're in. Oriole Park security is very lax about people moving around.