The official 2008 MLB thread

[cartman]

Indians 2B Asdrubal Cabrera pulls off one of the rarest feats in baseball: the unassisted triple play!

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...ritethru.0317/

[Oilers9911]

The Jays offense is so bad I expect them to hit into an unassisted quadruple play before long.

Originally Posted by cartman

Indians 2B Asdrubal Cabrera pulls off one of the rarest feats in baseball: the unassisted triple play!

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...ritethru.0317/

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Oilers9911

The Jays offense is so bad I expect them to hit into an unassisted quadruple play before long.

And yet, they still have 12 runs more this year than the Royals

SI

[Cringer]

Lance Berkman is the man.

[JeeberD]

True, that...

[sterlingice]

He's on such an insane hot streak right now. The ball must look like a beach ball to him.

SI

[Ksyrup]

Holy crap! This is awesome!



BREAKING NEWS: Delgado's agent is insane

by Dan Graziano Sunday May 11, 2008, 1:24 PM


From time to time, I get e-mail responses to things I write. Mostly, they're negative -- people who disagree with me, hate me or get a kick out of calling me lewd names. Lots of times they begin with "I usually agree with you, but..." Which makes me wonder why so few people write when they agree. But I digress.

This afternoon, I got an e-mail from David Sloane, who is the agent for Mets first baseman Carlos Delgado and had a problem with something I wrote in my Sunday notebook about his client.

Now, I had heard stories about Sloane being unbalanced and unprofessional, but I was dazzled when I finally saw it on display.

His first e-mail to me came in at 11:58 a.m. It read, simply, "You're wrong on both the money and the terms" and attached the passage from my column that referred to Delgado's 2008 compensation:

"The money is almost a wash -- the Mets are paying Delgado $12 million in salary this year plus a $4 million buyout on his 2009 option for a total of $16 million, and the Mariners are paying Sexson $14 million. Delgado has a no-trade clause, and could veto any deal, but maybe he's sick of the New York circus."

Now, as I understand it, Delgado is making $16 million this year and the Marlins are paying $4 million of it as a condition of the 2005 trade that sent Delgado to New York. So when I wrote "the Mets are paying $12 million," I believed that to be accurate and still do.

So I wrote back to Sloane: "How so?"

His response came at 12:20 p.m.:

"Ask your unreliable sources to look it up again."

As I mentioned, I'd heard about Sloane being belligerent and unprofessional, so I smiled and wrote back:

"Real classy and helpful. Thanks. If you can't tell me what I got wrong, I will assume I got it right and you're just living down to your reputation. As I understand it, he makes $16 mil this year and the Marlins pay $4 mil of it."

Yeah, I was egging him on, and maybe I shouldn't have, but I think what I wrote was pretty innocent, compared as you will see to where he ended up taking the conversation.

His response this time was fairly civil. It arrived at 12:33 p.m.:

"But that isn't what you wrote, you said he's making 12 & has a no trade which is wrong. But then why let a little thing like a fact get in the way of your jornalism. As for my "reputation" you know what they say about people that can't take a joke."

I'm still not clear on the no-trade. It could be my mistake, in which case, if the agent wanted me to, I would happily correct it in next Sunday's notes. In most cases, I'd ask the agent to clarify. But in this case, the agent is obviously mentally ill.

I wrote back:

"Sorry I missed your 'joke.' This is what I wrote:
'the Mets are paying Delgado $12 million in salary this year plus a $4 million buyout on his 2009 option'

I won't hold my breath waiting for your apology."

Glad I didn't. Because it didn't come. What did come was a total descent into immature madness by somebody who purports to be a major league player agent. Sloane wrote back at 12:40 p.m.:

"Apologize this retard, he's making 16 this year WITH an option for next year @ 16 or a buyout @ 4. Nice research by you but then I guess that whole concept of fact finding escapes you huh? They didn't teach that on the short bus did they?"

Seriously. Not making this up. I cut-and-pasted it.

Couple of thoughts here:

1. I don't respond when readers call me names, but I'm not surprised when it happens. But this guy is an AGENT. I mean, somebody you'd expect, even if vindictive and hateful, to act like a professional in his dealings with the media. I guess we don't have to wonder why he has no other clients.

2. If he thinks there's a chance in hell the Mets are picking up a $16 million option on Delgado for 2009, he's delusional on top of everything else.

Anyway, maybe I should have resisted, but I couldn't. I wrote him back again:

"That a joke too? You're a funny guy."

And then, at 12:46 pm, in apparent celebration of Mother's Day, David Sloane, the agent for Carlos Delgado, wrote back the following e-mail, which I present to you in its entirety:

"So's your Mom."

And there you have it, folks. "So's your Mom."

My final thought, and I'll leave the rest to you guys to ponder: It's pretty darned impressive that Delgado got the contract he did with a nine-year-old for his agent.

[Lathum]

awesome.

Could you imagine if this guy represented Barry Zito?

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

And yet, they still have 12 runs more this year than the Royals

SI

Sick, isn't it? I'm amazed that the Royals are only 3 games out of first place given our offensive woes. Thankfully, Guillen is starting to heat up and Butler appears to be coming out of his slump.

Greinke threw another gem last night. He's really doing a great job right now. It would appear that the hype may actually be true.

[MikeVic]

Nice slide my Frank Thomas yesterday. I hope he retires soon. He actually stopped running to attempt a slide at home, and was tagged out. The slide looked so awkward in that his leg slide over the plate... if he just kept running, he'd probably be safe I think.

[Lathum]

Good pitching duel in the Mets-Nats game so far, Alou just got ejected and Schneider promptly breaks a scoreless tie with a homer

[Lathum]

and Zimmerman ties the game with one that hasn't landed yet

[Lathum]

fucking Heilman

[Lathum]

and he goes on to give up 4 runs with 2 outs. fucking hack

[JonInMiddleGA]

Okay I have to admit, the Manny Ramirez high five made me laugh.
Not a huge belly laugh, more like a shaking-my-head-chuckling laugh but still ...

[Lathum]

Berkman again, 2 run homer in the first

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Okay I have to admit, the Manny Ramirez high five made me laugh.
Not a huge belly laugh, more like a shaking-my-head-chuckling laugh but still ...

Hey, when you are one of the greatest players of your generation and headed to the Hall of Fame when you hang 'em up, you can get away with all sorts of stuff .

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Man, I just can't help but get excited about the Royals pitching staff at this point. Grienke, Hochaver, and Bannister look like a great 1-2-3 starting combo for the near future. In the bullpen, Nunez and Soria are probably the best bullpen setup/closer combo in the American League right now.

If only we could score a few more runs to actually support the pitching........

[MikeVic]

Manny is great.

[lordscarlet]

Originally Posted by Lathum

Good pitching duel in the Mets-Nats game so far, Alou just got ejected and Schneider promptly breaks a scoreless tie with a homer

Originally Posted by Lathum

and Zimmerman ties the game with one that hasn't landed yet

Originally Posted by Lathum

fucking Heilman

Originally Posted by Lathum

and he goes on to give up 4 runs with 2 outs. fucking hack

Oh yeah! Zimmerman is finally getting his swing back. He's still only been good for 1 hit a night, but they've been HRs more and more recently. And he is, of course, still amazing at third.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by lordscarlet

Oh yeah! Zimmerman is finally getting his swing back. He's still only been good for 1 hit a night, but they've been HRs more and more recently. And he is, of course, still amazing at third.

He did make a great play to save a couple of runs.

That being said tgis Met team is killing me. They play to the level of their competition and it is making me insane.

No way they should need a win today to split at home against the Nats, they have way to much talent to be in this position.

Heileman needs to go straight to mop up duty, I have no idea why Smith isn't getting the important innings.

[lungs]

Ryan Braun signs with the Brewers until 2015:

http://blogs.jsonline.com/brewers/ar...n/default.aspx

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by Lathum

He did make a great play to save a couple of runs.

That being said tgis Met team is killing me. They play to the level of their competition and it is making me insane.

No way they should need a win today to split at home against the Nats, they have way to much talent to be in this position.

Heileman needs to go straight to mop up duty, I have no idea why Smith isn't getting the important innings.

Its gotten to the point with Heilmann that when I see him warming up I change the channel and assume its a loss.

[lordscarlet]

Originally Posted by Lathum

He did make a great play to save a couple of runs.

That being said tgis Met team is killing me. They play to the level of their competition and it is making me insane.

No way they should need a win today to split at home against the Nats, they have way to much talent to be in this position.

Heileman needs to go straight to mop up duty, I have no idea why Smith isn't getting the important innings.

Yes, you'll notice I am latching on to one of our only bright spots, while you're having to watch a few poor pitchers throw this homestand away. I make no attempt to claim the Nats are better than they are, that's why I cheer as much as I can when they do well. So far it seems like an early Florida run before the next sell-off, but I will be surprised if they can run through the whole season.

[samifan24]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

Man, I just can't help but get excited about the Royals pitching staff at this point. Grienke, Hochaver, and Bannister look like a great 1-2-3 starting combo for the near future. In the bullpen, Nunez and Soria are probably the best bullpen setup/closer combo in the American League right now.

If only we could score a few more runs to actually support the pitching........

I've heard talk of possibly shifting Soria to the rotation because he's so dominant. What's the chatter out there in KC on this?

[MikeVic]

So, the Indians have held opponents to something like 40 straight scoreless innings?

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by samifan24

I've heard talk of possibly shifting Soria to the rotation because he's so dominant. What's the chatter out there in KC on this?

This is the only thing I've seen about it in recent days. This was written by a columnist at the KC Star.........

http://www.kansascity.com/sports/col...ry/614703.html

TOP OF THE MORNIN'
No relief for Royals if Soria moves to the rotation
By JEFFREY FLANAGAN
The Kansas City Star

There has been quite a bit of talk this season in Royals chat rooms about whether Joakim Soria would be better off in the rotation.

That talk was much more tolerable before Zack Greinke moved into the rotation (a great move, by the way) because Greinke certainly had the stuff and command to be an effective closer to take Soria’s place.

But if Greinke and Soria are each in the rotation, just who is the next Royals closer? Am I the only one thinking that the position of closer is paramount to any Royals turnaround over the next few years, and it therefore should be a priority?

Apparently, some folks have fairly short memories. Some people perhaps can’t remember the horror of the Royals routinely blowing leads before Soria came to town.

Nothing is more infuriating to a fan than a blown save. Nothing makes a fan hop into a chat room or call into a sports talk show faster than a blown save. More importantly, nothing takes the wind out of a team more than a blown save.

But perhaps no job is taken more for granted.

It has been 10 long years since Jeff Montgomery gave the Royals the look of a closer when he posted 36 saves in 1998. Anyone care to bring back Ricky Bottalico? Roberto Hernandez?

Anyone remember the terror of wondering whether Mike MacDougal or Jeremy Affeldt or Ambiorix Burgos would hit the backstop or the on-deck batter with any given pitch? Or just plain walk the bases full?

Soria no doubt has the talent to be an impact starting pitcher. But right now he’s busy being one of the best closers in baseball. Let’s leave well enough alone.

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by MikeVic

So, the Indians have held opponents to something like 40 straight scoreless innings?

Indians' starting pitchers, and I think it's 43 innings.

[lordscarlet]

Pitchers duel at Shea through 5 1/2.

[Travis]

Gotta love the Jays, Dustin McGowan with a no hitter through 4, but thanks to a walk, stolen base, fly ball to move the runner to third and a wild pitch, he has given up an earned run.

[MikeVic]

How does that sequence result in an ER?

[Travis]

Originally Posted by MikeVic

How does that sequence result in an ER?

I'm just going off the yahoo box score, but assuming they are correct, the wild pitch being the pitcher's fault would make it earned I guess. Not sure if it had been scored a passed ball if that would have counted as an error to make it unearned or not.

[MikeVic]

Hmm ok. I was just confused because of the walk. Looks like they scored again though.

[Shkspr]

Who had May 15 in the "Nick Johnson to the DL" pool?

Oh, that's right. Everybody did.

[samifan24]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Indians' starting pitchers, and I think it's 43 innings.

Yeah, my Tribe have plenty of problems (no closer, no offense lately) but right now starting pitching isn't one of them, even if Laffey did give up an unearned run today.

[BishopMVP]

How does Jose Lopez have a .315 BA and a .313 OBP? Is it the Sac Flys? http://www.baseball-reference.com/l/lopezjo01.shtml

[MikeVic]

I don't know, that doesn't make sense to me.

[Shkspr]

Originally Posted by BishopMVP

How does Jose Lopez have a .315 BA and a .313 OBP? Is it the Sac Flys? http://www.baseball-reference.com/l/lopezjo01.shtml

Exactly.

(H + BB + HBP) / (AB + BB + HBP + SF)

[Lathum]

Shutout.

You have got to be kidding me.

Pelfry gives them exactly what they need and they can't score one god damn run?


Absolutly inexcusable. Period.

with the speed the Mets have they should be able to manufacture runs, espescialy in a game where it is obvious one run may make a huge difference.

[lordscarlet]

Originally Posted by Shkspr

Who had May 15 in the "Nick Johnson to the DL" pool?

Oh, that's right. Everybody did.

Sigh.

Originally Posted by Lathum

Shutout.

You have got to be kidding me.

Pelfry gives them exactly what they need and they can't score one god damn run?


Absolutly inexcusable. Period.

with the speed the Mets have they should be able to manufacture runs, espescialy in a game where it is obvious one run may make a huge difference.

That's the unmistakable power of Bergmann.

Only 6 games from .500!

[Logan]

Originally Posted by lordscarlet

Sigh.



That's the unmistakable power of Bergmann.

Only 6 games from .500!

Bergmann is a Rutgers guy so I'm fine with him beating the Mets (seriously, he was our 4th starter in the rotation...kinda crazy that he's a successful ML pitcher knowing that).

And about the speed...we probably win the game if Castillo runs out a pop-out and if Reyes doesn't try to steal an extra base because it's unguarded.

God I hate these fuckers.

[JS19]

Couldn't watch the game, but from what I heard on the FAN during the post game it sounded like Pelfrey pitched a good game and they still lost. I'm officially on the fire Willie Randolph wagon. I agree with what the callers were saying, Randolph comes from the "professional" Yankees background and shows no sense of urgency/fire and doesn't have a clue on how to motivate these guys. IMO, this is a team, with guys like Reyes, Wright, Perez, Pedro, among many others, who can use/benefit from a manager that shows a little fire and emotion.

[sterlingice]

Royals with a 3 game sweep of the Tigers to get back to 2 games of .500 and only 2.5 games of first. They looked like they were about to fall off the face of the earth, losing two of three to the Angels and the first three to Baltimore. Then they reel off 4 wins in a row.

Originally Posted by samifan24

I've heard talk of possibly shifting Soria to the rotation because he's so dominant. What's the chatter out there in KC on this?

Well, Soria has 4 pitches and really only uses 2 closing. There's a chance that he could be a really good starter, too, and a good starter is even harder to find than a good closer.

However, it likely won't happen this season. For one, the rotation is doing good right now. Greinke is absolutely dominant. Meche is looking more like Meche from last year. Bannister and Hochevar have both been on and off but have ERAs under 4. And Tomko is, well, a 5th starter but there are a couple of AAA guys like Davies who deserve a shot.

And, secondly, the bullpen is the really strong suit of the team and I don't think they'd mess with it:

Closer: Soria 16.1 IP, 18K, 0.00 ERA, 10 SV
Set Up: Nunez 16.2 IP, 13K, 1.62 ERA
Lefty: Mahay 18.0 IP, 16K, 2.50 ERA
Righty: Ramirez 17.0 IP, 21K, 1.06 ERA

Do you really want to screw with that for the 7th/8th/9th?

SI

[sterlingice]

Berkman is insane. He's single handedly keeping my fantasy batters afloat.

12 games in May- 1.779 OPS with a .587 average. WTF?!?

SI

[Chief Rum]

Did I mention how I am not really too big of a K-Rod fan right now?

Tonight versus the White Sox was another classic example. Comes in the ninth with the game tied, 3-3, and facing AJ Pierzynski. He should be able to get this guy out. But as usual, he needs to let the first runner on so he can feel some pressure. Pierzynski gets a base hit and legs out a double (kudos to him). K-Rod gets the next two outs, with AJ now on third, and all he has to do is get Thome out, and Thome hasn't been hitting all series. So he gives up the base hit and AJ scores the go ahead run.

And, as if trying to nail the point down, Bobby Jenks--former Angels farmhand Bobby Jenks ridiculously waived for a pointless 40 Man transaction by Stoneman and picked up by the Sox--comes in and does what I want my closer to do every time. 1. 2. 3. Game over.

Not that hard, Frankie. Enjoy your money in New York next year. We'll use half of it to find a less "cardiac" closer, and use the rest to improve the team elsewhere.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

Royals with a 3 game sweep of the Tigers to get back to 2 games of .500 and only 2.5 games of first. They looked like they were about to fall off the face of the earth, losing two of three to the Angels and the first three to Baltimore. Then they reel off 4 wins in a row.

I'm really interested to see what KC does against Florida in Miami this weekend. Both teams are playing well and, funny enough, KC has a bigger payroll by a pretty wide margin.

[Ksyrup]

Interesting.

[MikeVic]

Damn Global Warming Ruining Baseball Run Production!

[Ksyrup]

Actually, global warming is a cause of home run production.

[MikeVic]

no!