We’re just 151 days away from Seattle and Oakland starting off the 2012 season from Japan.
Where do you anticipate the free agents will end up? What will ultimately happen to the Dodgers and Mets ownership situations? How will Ozzie fare with his new team?
How are you going to occupy your time during The Void?
I suspect Pujols ends up back with St. Louis.
If he doesn’t that will cause a remarkable chain of events, and I’m not guaranteeing he will because St. Louis has a lot of hitters and they’re smart enough to know that good long term baseball trumps making the fans happy this November. But it probably will.
Cecil Fielder could end up in any one of a dozen cities. The team that could most use him, IMHO, is San Francisco, who have a wonderful pitching staff and a team that couldn’t hit sand if they fell down in the Sahara. If they’d had Fielder in 2011 they’d have made the playoffs. The argument against it would be that Pablo Sandoval is a, uh, large man who would perhaps benefit from moving to first. He’s not a bad fielder yet, but we are talking about a guy who has three listed nicknames and all refer to his being fat.
I’m here in Toronto and really don’t know what the Blue Jays are going to do. Given recent history they will probably pull off some surprising and remarkably smart trade, so I’ll go out on a limb and say Adam Lind is not long for this city (a shame, as he married a local and apparently loves it here.) The team’s major decision at this point is whether or not to retain the services of Kelly Johnson.
The Astros are going to be trying to move Wandy Rodriguez; he’s signed for about $12 million a year for the next 3 years (technically he’s signed for 2 but he has a team option that vests if he’s traded). Apparently there wasn’t all that much interest during the stretch run due to the contract, his age, his inability to eat innings (he’s basically a 6 inning starter) and the fact that he hasn’t pitched very well against AL clubs. On the other hand, his ERA+ for the past four years is 119, 136, 111, and 109; if he can keep that up he’ll be an asset to whoever gets him.
And catching up on the news, they seem to be serious about switching the Astros to the AL, which is just odd.
Were I a GM, I would be somewhat annoyed if I did not already have an obvious DH on my roster.
(The concept does make a weird part of my brain root for an Astros-Brewers World Series at some point.)
I have to say that the possibility of the Mets winning sufficient games for a wild card spot would depend on a string of less-than-likely events (a signed Reyes, a dominant Santana, better-than-typical seasons from Wright, Bay, et al), which at the moment strikes me maybe slightly more likely than the Wilpons selling the team to the Chinese government and having them field a heavily discounted team of 17-year-olds.
It means interleague play all season long. There shouldn’t be any, unless, that is, the NL is finally forced to adopt the same sensible game rules as all of the *modern *world. And maybe not even then. There’s almost nothing left to do before fully merging the two leagues.
At the time the DH rule was created, most teams did have a Rusty Staub or a Dave Kingman or somebody else who was called a “pinch-hitting specialist”. The rule was invented largely to get those guys more AB’s.
QFT. Frankly, this is just a way to sneak merger onto us. Within three years they’ll say “well, gosh, we might as well make it all one league.”
I’m so looking forward to All-Star games where the American Conference plays the National Conference. And by “looking forward” I mean “absolutely disgusted.”
ETA: And if you’re going to switch a team, switch the goddamned Brewers back to the AL where they belong.
Tigers re-signed Valverde. It was for 9 million.
Well, fortunately for the Astros they don’t have any major-league quality position players anyway.
What do you mean? I just saw Berkman holding a big-ass trophy. Oh, wait … 
Damn Lackey. Shut everybody up by going for a Tommy John.
Now that really would be a surprise move. 
Considering his size, Big Daddy probably could have ended up in several cities at the same time.
Dude, it’s been the off-season since fucking April, and next year looks no better unless someone sticks a shiv into McCourt.
The Brewers switched Leagues for a few reasons, but the biggest reason being that Selig pushed it as a way to initiate a rivalry with the Cubs. At the time Brewers didn’t draw very well, and having a close rival just down I-94 would provide a bump in attendance 8-9 times a year.
The Astros make the most sense to me to make the move (even if as a Cards fan we would lose a friendly rivalry). You need a team to give the AL West a fifth team, and they would provide the Rangers a division foe in the same time zone.
I’ve been wondering why there is no baseball game on TV tonight.
Where is this Astros to the AL, and permanent interleague play coming from? I’ve missed it.
I think I’ll take a day off from work and attend an Arizona Fall League game. Get one last game in until spring training.
I actually haven’t turned my TV on all day in protest.
By the way, silenus, you are a bitter, bitter man.
I see the geographic logic, of course, but it’s just immensely disconcerting to me that a team could be in both leagues. They’re different leagues, damn it.
Oh I see where you’re coming from. I guess it doesn’t bother me since I see the AL as an abomination anyway.
Zumaya claims to be healthy, wealthy and wise. Wonder if the Tigers will re-sign him. He claims to be throwing without pain.