2016 MLB Regular-Season Thread

Oh, Wood's arm had been abused before he was drafted. It was Prior whose breakdown surprised people based on all of the stories when he came up.

 

Tom House was the one saying Prior had perfect mechanics and everyone bought it because House — who had been Prior's personal pitching coach — also trained Nolan Ryan and Ryan swore by him. The baseball writers basically said "If Nolan believes in this guy, then so do I."

And yeah, Wood threw something like 200 pitches in a high school playoff doubleheader the week after the Cubs drafted him, but before he signed. They were supposedly livid about it.

 

When I was a kid, sometime usually in early September, my dad would be happy because the Phillies reached 63 wins and it meant at least they wouldn't lose 100. Sad to see those days have returned so quickly.

 

Phillies are definitely on the way up, but I don't see them quite breaking even this year. However, they got a good haul of prospects in the Hamels trade and Crawford and Franco are going to be the real deal.

The revenue generated by market size, TV contract and ballpark also allows them to accelerate their timetable, especially once the Howard contract is off the books after this year. And, of course, 86-ing Ruben Amaro was addition by subtraction.

 

Yeah, Amaro was probably thinking about re-upping Howard for another five years. That contract was the equivalent of buying a used car with 80,000 miles and no warranty, and the engine falls out as soon as you leave the lot.

 

And your car nerd friends tried to tell you the engine was about to fall out but you really liked the flames paint job.

 

The car also corners like it's on rails when you turn right, but flips over and catches fire if you try to turn left.

 

It' about time it was, considering its been a staple in the NFL abd NBA. But, baseball being baseball, it opens in the middle of the night in Japan

 

Your Dad must've lived through the ultimate Phillies suck moment, when they got pasted on Opening Day in 1960 and manager Eddie Sawyer resigned in his post-game presser with the immortal words "I'm 49 now and I want to live to be 50." That left a real impression on this little kid.

 

They announce the schedule in September, so it might have just been coincidence. They did move the game up a day, though.

 

He did. He would've been 13.
There were legends told in my house about how he was banging his head against the wall and shaking the house during the 1980 NLCS.

 

First game of the season is in the books. Francisco Liriano struck out 10 in six shutout innings as the Pirates beat the Cardinals, 4-1.

The Pirates used David Freese as their No. 3 hitter. The same David Freese who didn't even have a job until Pittsburgh signed him March 11.