MLB 2014 season thread

I've gotta say, back in the day when out of school and bored, I did love seeing some day baseball games on WGN.

 

Also another example of the folly in writing a blank check to a veteran player years before their free agency.

See: Ryan Howard.

 

Pitchers are universe suck-holes for value. You can't count on any of them.

 

No, Cain's contract came the spring before he was headed to FA -- and if the Giants had waited, it would have cost them more. 2012 ended up being the best year of his career, with a perfect game and his lowest ERA and a World Series ring.

This one is more along the lines of RickStain's "all pitching is a bad investment" theory.

 

The Dodgers reportedly inquired about Cole Hamels and were told it would take Corey Seager, Joc Pederson and Julio Urias to pry him away from the Phillies. Those are the Dodgers top three prospects, and all ranked in the top 22 in Keith Law's midseason Top 50.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2014/07/29/mlb-trade-deadline-jon-lester-john-lackey-cole-hamels-cliff-lee/13327255/

http://www.baseballamerica.com/minors/2014-los-angeles-dodgers-top-10-prospects/

http://insider.espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/11223667/mlb-keith-law-top-50-mlb-prospects

 

I defer. Good catch.

 

Jon Lester scratched from Wednesday start, a good indication he'll be traded at the deadline:

http://espn.go.com/blog/boston/red-sox/post/_/id/39275/lester-scratched-from-wednesday-start?ex_cid=espnapi_public

 

Nice. Vin Scully's coming back for the 2015 season. It'll be his 66th.

Simply amazing.

 

I stumbled upon the live announcement during the Dodgers' game. Love the reaction by the crowd.

"It's hard to recover from that," Scully said, then proceeded to go right back to work. Great stuff.

 

You are correct.

No matter how perfect your mechanics, the act of repeatedly throwing a baseball 95 mph is inherently dangerous.

But with the way guys are coming back from TJ these days, rotator cuff/labrum injuries are still the biggest career-killers.

Me and my completely destroyed labrum are interested to see if a smart doc can eventually do for shoulders what TJ surgery did for elbows.

 

I realize when Vin is done, he's just going to be done. No farewell tour or anything (obviously it would be limited to four cities). It would be nice if he could take a curtain call at an all-star game, though I don't think LA will get one until after Miami and Washington do.

 

I take back all the bad things I said about the Cubs playing night baseball.

It's after deadline here in PDT, and the Rockies and Cubs are battling into the 16th inning at Wrigley Field.

A backup catcher named John Baker is pitching for Chicago, and we can't turn away. Great stuff.