MLB 2008 Season

[WinCrimson 61]

Shame on us for not having started this thread before now.

Carry on.

[SouthLink02 8]

Time for the Tigers to break out of the damn funk and kick the **** out of the Royals

[Nay4AU 2]

All I heard all off-season is how healthy Pedro Martinez was and how this would finally be his year in NY. He and Santana were supposed to be a hellacious 1-2 combo. Well after only 3 1/3 innings he’s out 4-6 weeks with a hamstring injury. The injury sounds pretty serious, Pedro said, he “heard a pop” when the injury occured. (I know all of you Braves fans hate this.)

[BamaGrad03 0]

I think the Tigers are going to be tough to beat this year. I still think the trade we made with them worked out well for both teams.

I hated to hear that about Pedro. Even though I hate the Mets, I've always liked him. And I know what it means to hear a pop in a hammy. It's not good...at all.

[WarTiger 3,909]

For years I've grown very disillusioned with MLB. Some of you fans give me a reason to watch again? I was a Braves fan forever and really lost interest. I love college baseball, so some of you mlb fans here give me a reason to watch again. Particularly braves fans.

[AUJarhead 70]

Wife bought me a Sony Location free for Christmas, mainly so I could watch the local Cards broadcast while I'm traveling. Sitting on the campus of UVA right now, with the game on my laptop, watching it live. I've missed baseball.

[SouthLink02 8]

I think the Tigers are going to be tough to beat this year. I still think the trade we made with them worked out well for both teams.

I hated to hear that about Pedro. Even though I hate the Mets, I've always liked him. And I know what it means to hear a pop in a hammy. It's not good...at all.

I was blown away by HOW MUCH attention the Tigers got during the pre-season. Of course, I expected a lot with the trades this off-season

BUT

It seems like everyone picked us to win the AL this year....not everyone but a lot of people

The Tigers are good but we got little proven SP and even then it is suspect in the long-run. As good as JVL is, he can go stretches of terrible starts

[BigSammyK 171]

All I heard all off-season is how healthy Pedro Martinez was and how this would finally be his year in NY. He and Santana were supposed to be a hellacious 1-2 combo. Well after only 3 1/3 innings he’s out 4-6 weeks with a hamstring injury. The injury sounds pretty serious, Pedro said, he “heard a pop” when the injury occured. (I know all of you Braves fans hate this.)

To take some of the Pedro injury spotlight away from the Mets, Mike Hampton decided to once again injure himself warming up.

[BamaGrad03 0]

You know, the funny thing about Hampton's injury...When I turned on the game and saw them highlight his warmup tosses, I freaking KNEW he injured himself.

Bennett did a good job filling in though.

[AUJarhead 70]

What's everyone's picks this year?

NL:

East - Mets

Central - Cubs

West - Arizona

WC - Atlanta

AL:

East - Boston

Central - Detroit

West - Seattle

WC - NY

NLCS - Mets and Atlanta

ALCS - Detroit and Boston

WS - Detroit over NYM.

[BamaGrad03 0]

I think the Mets are too old to handle the rigors of 162 games + playoffs.

[SouthLink02 8]

Score some damn RUNS, Tigers!

Dammit, I knew our SP would be bad BUT NOT THIS BAD

Without an offense, we are SCREWED

The Central is going to be tough too

[Nay4AU 2]

I think the Mets are too old to handle the rigors of 162 games + playoffs.

The Mets may not win it all but I don't think it will be because of their age. I think it may be more their mentality than their age. The Mets haven’t been able to close the season strong for the last couple of seasons. We all know about the unprecedented collapse last season but they didn’t finish the 2006 season very strong either. They seemed to be the best team in 06 only to go about .500 for the final month and loose to the Cardinals in NLCS. I’m not taking away anything from St. Louis they were playing phenomenal in October and were defiantly the best team. I think the Mets were lucky to stretch the series to 7 games.

The Mets roster ranks 29 of 30 in average age. However there is only 1.7 years difference between them and Seattle (#16) so there’s not that much difference in the last half of the list. The last half also consists of several contenders such as the defending World Series Champion Boston (#30) and popular favorite Detroit (#25).

MLB Rosters Average Age

[BamaGrad03 0]

Sure, you can look at average age, or you can look at starters age. The guys you really depend on.

Guys like Alou and Pedro who are pushing 60...both starting the season off hurt. So you have a fill in pitcher and Pagan subing for Moises. Delgado is always plagued with injuries and has yet again, started the season off bumpy.

And if they can't get Reyes on the right track, they will seriously struggle. He's a liability for them right now, dating back to last season. Wright is a slow starter, so they don't need to worry about his current low production.

But this isn't a National League east where you can give away a lot of games and still win. There's three VERY legit teams in this division and it's not going to be an easy get. And because the teams are so tough and they play so many games amongst each other, I predict the WC won't come out of the east because they are going to beat up on each other so much.

[SouthLink02 8]

If Pedro wins 7 games this year, I would be surprised. I am surprised that I am surprised that he is hurt. I thought he would stay relatively healthy this year

[BamaGrad03 0]

Braves beat the Mets again today...this time it was their much heralded ace Santana.

I like it. Though I'm still a little concerned about Soriano closing.

[tiger88 934]

My first reaction when I saw the braves roster was that the hitting looked great and the pitching looked really iffy.

smoltz and Glavine are both way way past their prime and run out of steam with many weeks left in the season. Hell, Glavine did that the last time he was here in atlanta. Last year was his one really good year in NY and he tanked his last month of the season there too. They pitched Smolts early because they didn't want to pitch him in the cold in clorado.

Then you have hampton. Good when he is healthy which is somewhere between rarely and never.

I don't have a clue who jo jo reyes is. Is he that lefty that came up last year?

[BamaGrad03 0]

My first reaction when I saw the braves roster was that the hitting looked great and the pitching looked really iffy.

smoltz and Glavine are both way way past their prime and run out of steam with many weeks left in the season. Hell, Glavine did that the last time he was here in atlanta. Last year was his one really good year in NY and he tanked his last month of the season there too. They pitched Smolts early because they didn't want to pitch him in the cold in clorado.

Then you have hampton. Good when he is healthy which is somewhere between rarely and never.

I don't have a clue who jo jo reyes is. Is he that lefty that came up last year?

Uh, Smoltz doesn't have a history of fading down the stretch. And he was downright dominant today. Jo Jo Reyes is a minor league pitcher. Jair Jurrjens is our new starter, and Chuck James is about to come off the DL and can fill in until Hampton rehabs his boobie.

But to say Smoltz is way past his prime and suggest he won't be effective is silly. In his last 3 seasons combined, his ERA is almost in the 2s.

The starting pitching won't be a problem. I think Hampton will be back. And don't forget we get Gonzalez back in July to help shore up the late innings. Chuck James is serviceable as a 5th starter, and they don't need 25 wins from Glavine. If he can win 12-13 Smoltzie and Huddy will do their jobs, and the back end of the rotation will be good enough to win the division (I think).

[BamaGrad03 0]

Link, what's going on with the Tigers? 0-6? 13-2 to the sox?

My friends are now calling me an idiot for pumping them up for the last month.

[SouthLink02 8]

They never had that great of SP

VL got some really undeserved hype of being a "lock" for the CyYoung per some in the media. He is very good but that great? No.

As for the rest of our SP's....they are all average and Willis blows at the moment

Our hitting will come around and we will get some wins but until we start blasting some runs, we will continue losing

[BigSammyK 171]

What do Tigers fans think about the Renteria/Jurrjens trade? I really don't understand it at all. I know their batting order is terrifying, but their starting rotation isn't overly impressive and I haven't heard anything about any great young arms they've got coming up anytime soon.

[SouthLink02 8]

I still like the trade as Guillen gets injured quite a bit and Renteria is a proven solid SS

Jurrejens struggles with consistency and his poor BB/K shows it, imo. He also goes streaky with his pitches and that occured in the minors on more than one occasion.

As for the Willis/Cabrera trade, I still like it

We still have plenty of arms in the minors thus the trade didn't cripple us at all in terms of depth in the minors.

If Willis can win 15-16 games the next 2-3 years (each year), I will consider it a success

I expect Cabrera to to be an MVP the next few years

[tiger88 934]

My first reaction when I saw the braves roster was that the hitting looked great and the pitching looked really iffy.

smoltz and Glavine are both way way past their prime and run out of steam with many weeks left in the season. Hell, Glavine did that the last time he was here in atlanta. Last year was his one really good year in NY and he tanked his last month of the season there too. They pitched Smolts early because they didn't want to pitch him in the cold in clorado.

Then you have hampton. Good when he is healthy which is somewhere between rarely and never.

I don't have a clue who jo jo reyes is. Is he that lefty that came up last year?

Uh, Smoltz doesn't have a history of fading down the stretch. And he was downright dominant today. Jo Jo Reyes is a minor league pitcher. Jair Jurrjens is our new starter, and Chuck James is about to come off the DL and can fill in until Hampton rehabs his boobie.

But to say Smoltz is way past his prime and suggest he won't be effective is silly. In his last 3 seasons combined, his ERA is almost in the 2s.

The starting pitching won't be a problem. I think Hampton will be back. And don't forget we get Gonzalez back in July to help shore up the late innings. Chuck James is serviceable as a 5th starter, and they don't need 25 wins from Glavine. If he can win 12-13 Smoltzie and Huddy will do their jobs, and the back end of the rotation will be good enough to win the division (I think).

smoltz numbes are great for the past three years. he has also tended to have problems with his elbow/shoulder late in the season, including missing starts and so on. I didn't say he wouldn't be effective, I'm sure he will be during the bulk of the season. twenty bucks says he fades at the end and glavine does too. glavine has been fading at the end of the season since before he left atlanta. They are both well past their prime physically.

I'm glad you have confidence in hampton. I hope you're right. He's already missed another start this year due to pulling his pec or whatever. When he is healthy he is a good pitcher.

I hope they all come through big time this year, I'm just not that confident that they will. I was a little disappointed to say the least when I saw the starting rotation. Hitting looks great. However, if you don't have pitching down the stretch you are basically just peeing in the wind.

[BigSammyK 171]

My first reaction when I saw the braves roster was that the hitting looked great and the pitching looked really iffy.

smoltz and Glavine are both way way past their prime and run out of steam with many weeks left in the season. Hell, Glavine did that the last time he was here in atlanta. Last year was his one really good year in NY and he tanked his last month of the season there too. They pitched Smolts early because they didn't want to pitch him in the cold in clorado.

Then you have hampton. Good when he is healthy which is somewhere between rarely and never.

I don't have a clue who jo jo reyes is. Is he that lefty that came up last year?

Uh, Smoltz doesn't have a history of fading down the stretch. And he was downright dominant today. Jo Jo Reyes is a minor league pitcher. Jair Jurrjens is our new starter, and Chuck James is about to come off the DL and can fill in until Hampton rehabs his boobie.

But to say Smoltz is way past his prime and suggest he won't be effective is silly. In his last 3 seasons combined, his ERA is almost in the 2s.

The starting pitching won't be a problem. I think Hampton will be back. And don't forget we get Gonzalez back in July to help shore up the late innings. Chuck James is serviceable as a 5th starter, and they don't need 25 wins from Glavine. If he can win 12-13 Smoltzie and Huddy will do their jobs, and the back end of the rotation will be good enough to win the division (I think).

smoltz numbes are great for the past three years. he has also tended to have problems with his elbow/shoulder late in the season, including missing starts and so on. I didn't say he wouldn't be effective, I'm sure he will be during the bulk of the season. twenty bucks says he fades at the end and glavine does too. glavine has been fading at the end of the season since before he left atlanta. They are both well past their prime physically.

I'm glad you have confidence in hampton. I hope you're right. He's already missed another start this year due to pulling his pec or whatever. When he is healthy he is a good pitcher.

I hope they all come through big time this year, I'm just not that confident that they will. I was a little disappointed to say the least when I saw the starting rotation. Hitting looks great. However, if you don't have pitching down the stretch you are basically just peeing in the wind.

Sorry, but you're completely wrong about Smoltz. He did not miss any starts in August or September. He did not tend to have elbow or shoulder problems. He's 41 and can still throw a 94mph slider. Past his prime? Dream on.

He was 4-2 in his final 11 starts last season. The only start that he didn't go at least 6 innings in that stretch was the last game he pitched when playoffs were out of the picture. He never allowed more than 3 runs in those games. He had one complete game where he only allowed 3 runs and actually got the loss. In one game he went 8 innings, allowed 2 runs and got a no decision.

In 2006 Smoltz was 12-4 in his last 18 starts.

As for Glavine...he was 5-2 in his last 13 starts last season. Yes he got shelled at Shea in his last start of the season but to say he faded is again just plain wrong.

[BamaGrad03 0]

I think Glavine is past his prime...as in he used to be almost cy young award good. And he's not that guy anymore. That doesn't mean he can't be a good 3rd starter.

Hudson and Smoltz are the key.

Link, wouldn't you say the Edgar/Jair trade worked out great for both teams? Especially since we have Escobar at SS and really needed a 5th starter...(and considering Hampton is shaky)...