2017 MLB Season Thread

"Unlucky 13 wrote:

The new MLB season starts in just a few weeks. As a Cubs fan, I'm obviously excited to see if my team can defend their title. Is anyone else pumped for the start of the new season? I know that we have some Red Sox fans in here, and they look like the best team in the AL to me.

I expect the NL to be mostly top heavy again, with the Cubs, Nationals, Dodgers and Giants at the top. I think that St Louis is ripe for a heavy fall this season.

We can hope that the Cards are ripe for a heavy fall this year since no one likes those guys. But really even in their bad years they seem to hover around .500.

I love that you and many other are sleeping on my Mets. Sure, sleep on the team that swept you in the 2015 NLCS and has a healthy staff once again. Works for me. We are a sleeping giant.

"Boik14 wrote:

We can hope that the Cards are ripe for a heavy fall this year since no one likes those guys. But really even in their bad years they seem to hover around .500.

I love that you and many other are sleeping on my Mets. Sure, sleep on the team that swept you in the 2015 NLCS and has a healthy staff once again. Works for me. We are a sleeping giant.

LOL, I don't want to make it sound like I believe the Mets will be a bad team, because I don't. I think they're in the second tier in the NL, along with the Pirates and Rockies, and will contend for a WC spot. But although their pitching should be very good again, I see a lot of potholes in their lineup, and I just think that the Nationals are a better team top to bottom. If the Mets prove me wrong, great.

As for sweeping Chicago two years back, I think that the Cubs proved last year that they got over it, and are poised to be even better, at least on offense, in 2017. Plus, a big part of that sweep now plays second base for Washington.

"Unlucky 13 wrote:

LOL, I don't want to make it sound like I believe the Mets will be a bad team, because I don't. I think they're in the second tier in the NL, along with the Pirates and Rockies, and will contend for a WC spot. But although their pitching should be very good again, I see a lot of potholes in their lineup, and I just think that the Nationals are a better team top to bottom. If the Mets prove me wrong, great.

As for sweeping Chicago two years back, I think that the Cubs proved last year that they got over it, and are poised to be even better, at least on offense, in 2017. Plus, a big part of that sweep now plays second base for Washington.

Its going to help that the mets have 7 legit SP this year. Hopefully the injury bug doesnt bite us like last year.

"Boik14 wrote:

Its going to help that the mets have 7 legit SP this year. Hopefully the injury bug doesnt bite us like last year.

I really hope I am wrong because I hate seeing anyone hurt. But Mets starting pitchers are mechanically flawed. Injury bug is pretty likely with those guys. Hope not though.

"Nappy Roots wrote:

I really hope I am wrong because I hate seeing anyone hurt. But Mets starting pitchers are mechanically flawed. Injury bug is pretty likely with those guys. Hope not though.

Which ones and how are they flawed? Matz and Harvey are the only 2 i really see at all.

Degrom and Thor seem pretty effortless

"Boik14 wrote:

Which ones and how are they flawed? Matz and Harvey are the only 2 i really see at all.

Degrom and Thor seem pretty effortless

Matz, Harvey and DeGrom.

I think Thor is clean. However, as hard as he throws and he has already had some elbow issues he scares me. For him it is not mechanics. But you can have perfect mechanics with pitchers and they still blow out. Id probably say Thor will be fine, but I wouldn't bet on it.

"Nappy Roots wrote:

Matz, Harvey and DeGrom.

I think Thor is clean. However, as hard as he throws and he has already had some elbow issues he scares me. For him it is not mechanics. But you can have perfect mechanics with pitchers and they still blow out. Id probably say Thor will be fine, but I wouldn't bet on it.

Matz and Harvey i can see the argument for. Theyve already had arm issues. I just dont see it with Jacob. Degrom had TJ surgery in the minors and it happened shortly after his conversion from SS to SP so it could have been from a few things not only mechanics considering how hard he throws.

Familia suspended 15 games

"Vertical Limit wrote:

Familia suspended 15 games

Addition by subtraction...not a huge fan, especially of his postseason performances. Reed can do the job for 2 weeks. Im more concerned about Matz's elbow yipping again. Its always something minor with him...probably from throwing 95 and having bad mechanics.

I think the Cubs repeat.

"TheOne wrote:

I think the Cubs repeat.

By some measures, the Cubs actually underperformed last season, and should have won between 100-115 games in the regular season! So, as a Cubbies fan, I'm shooting for 110 this year, especially with full seasons from Kyle Schwarber, Wilson Contrares and Javy Baez. However, once you get to the postseason, anything can happen. They had to squeak by all three of their series' last year. Still, its good to feel that they're going to be a good club for years to come.

This ones for Ronin...scratch your #10 prospect off your top ten list bro. What an idiot.

Happy Harvey Days are here again. Pitched brilliantly tonight for 6&2/3rds against Atlanta. Kemp hit 2 bombs vs him but no one else did anything. Not a lot of K's but hit 95-96 routinely and looked as good as I've seen in 3 years. Threw it free and easy and mowed down Atl.

Another good sign was d'Arnaud hitting a two run double. He's shown signs before but last year was a massive disappointment. Injured most of the year and terrible when he was healthy.

"Boik14 wrote:

Happy Harvey Days are here again. Pitched brilliantly tonight for 6&2/3rds against Atlanta. Kemp hit 2 bombs vs him but no one else did anything. Not a lot of K's but hit 95-96 routinely and looked as good as I've seen in 3 years. Threw it free and easy and mowed down Atl.

Another good sign was d'Arnaud hitting a two run double. He's shown signs before but last year was a massive disappointment. Injured most of the year and terrible when he was healthy.

Hope your guys stay healthy. It can be such a crushing feeling to have your prized pospects come up and then lost to injury.

The Cubs didn't have an easy time of it in St Louis, but I'll happily take 2-1 on the road to start the year, even though Bryant is 0-13 so far.

"Unlucky 13 wrote:

Hope your guys stay healthy. It can be such a crushing feeling to have your prized pospects come up and then lost to injury.

The Cubs didn't have an easy time of it in St Louis, but I'll happily take 2-1 on the road to start the year, even though Bryant is 0-13 so far.

Ya, that's one of the hard things about building with pitching. But historically whenever the mets are good it's generally with good pitching. 06 was the only exception I can think of.

Interesting stat I came across...For his career Harvey is 15-12 at Citifield over 43 home starts...with a 2.5 era. Uhhh run support please???? How is that even possible?

Tell Bryant to get going, I have him in 2 fantasy leagues :)

Differences in run support are always interesting and weird. How one guy can go out and get 5+ runs seemingly every time, while another is stuck with almost nothing. It leads to shorter outings, and has to wear on guys after a while. It seems to stick to some of them from year to year as well.

"Unlucky 13 wrote:

Differences in run support are always interesting and weird. How one guy can go out and get 5+ runs seemingly every time, while another is stuck with almost nothing. It leads to shorter outings, and has to wear on guys after a while. It seems to stick to some of them from year to year as well.

Exactly, so how is Harvey always at the top of the worst run support list? And ill answer: Alderson needs a few more "professional hitters" guys that hit 300 and get on base instead of a lineup full of 250 hitters who hit 20 hr a year which is basically what they have.

He has 1 rotting on the bench/minors in Conforto. He needs to be playing. My instincts tell me T.J. Rivera is another Daniel Murphy type and someone the mets should be looking at.

Stanton hit a homerun just now, which is normal and not out of the ordinary but what wasnt normal was the sound of the bat.. sounded like an aluminum bat..

The Cubs are not having the season that I, or most people expected, but...they're back in first place, so we'll see if they can keep it up.

Had you told me before the year that Javy Baez would increase his OPS by 62 points, Jason Heyward would increase his by 102, that Albert Almora and Ian Happ would step up and play as well as they have, and that no one would miss signifigant time with injury, I'd have expected they'd be setting the league on fire. But Addison Russell and Kyle Schwarber have been way, way down, Rizzo and Zobrist have had their struggles, and the entire pitching staff has been up and down.

Lol, you think your team has problems?

Syndergaard - Out another few months
Matz - Been out all season, although injuries are a way of life for him.
Lugo - Been out since the WBC
Harvey - Has pitched so bad an injury would be an upgrade...though i think its more mental then physical since his velocity is fine.
Degrom - Has been very inconsistent.

Raise your hand if you thought the Mets best SP would be Zach Wheeler. Thought so. No one did. Sure he walks 5 a game and throws 100 pitches by the 6th inning but hes navigated those walks pretty well.

The bullpen has been an unmitaged disaster thats been responsible for over 10 losses already. On top of that Blevins, Reed, and Salas could easily file abuse cases against Terry Collins the way he was abusing their arms early in the year. Even when Familia was healthy, it was bad.

The infield defense is among the worst. Asdrubal Cabrera may have hit a wall and seems to have declined sharply on D. Walker and Duda are average but Reyes at 3rd has been terrible. The good news is Rosario shouldnt be more then a week to 10 days away as the mets wait til Super 2 is well in the clear (the unofficial deadline passed but teams typically give it an extra week or so to make sure).

Fwiw, id probably look to move some of the prospective FA's for prospects or long term pieces. Bruce, Duda, Reed, Walker, Granderson have value and Walker is the only one id care to see locked up long term since hes still in his prime, a great locker room guy, and can play 3b and 1b as well. Harvey, Flores, and others are in their last years of arbitration after this year as well. This team needs some good relievers and upgrades. Rosario should be the actual leadoff hitter theyve been missing. The team should be using Juan Lagares and his gold glove defense in CF more, especially when you consider their OF defense is nothing special but they cant when they have 5 legit outfielders and Conforto and Cespedes need to be in the lineup whenever they are healthy. Dominic Smith should arrive shortly as well and should be an immediate defensive upgrade, and even if theres fewer homers then Duda, hes a better gap hitter. This teams got more issues than a yearly subscription to a weekly magazine but should be able to re-tool on the fly.

The NL West has three teams with a .600 winning percentage.

The AL East has four of five teams with winning records.

Which division is stronger?

"Samphin wrote:

The NL West has three teams with a .600 winning percentage.

The AL East has four of five teams with winning records.

Which division is stronger?

I don't watch much AL baseball, but I can tell you that the NL West is for real, especially after watching the Rockies take three of four in Chicago. The surprising part is how bad the Giants have been!

"Unlucky 13 wrote:

I don't watch much AL baseball, but I can tell you that the NL West is for real, especially after watching the Rockies take three of four in Chicago. The surprising part is how bad the Giants have been!

The Giants being bad doesn't surprise me. They caught lightning in a bottle a few times, which made their GM look smarter than he is. They started handing out bad contracts to marginal players and their core guys are getting older. Plus...Madison Bumgarner decided to star in Jackas: Volume 5, with his dirt bike.

As a Dodgers fan, I AM surprised at how well their pitching staff seems to be holding up, given all the injuries. Their position players are mostly home grown/developed in house, with a few more in the pipeline. Once they rid themselves of a few pricey veterans, and try to replenish with Machado/Harper in 18 months, they might be scary good.

The Rockies were smoke and mirrors, or so I thought, but looking at their away record shows that they are legit, especially with their bats. They will be buyers come the deadline and can make a serious run.

It is fun seeing the Yankees and Red Sox back on top of their division, but with some decent competition nipping at their heels, in the East.

The Giants have LONG been able to play above their talent level, scrape and claw their way to victories. Maybe its all catching up to them though.

The Rockies bats are relentless, and I've been surprised by a lot of "who's he" guys pitching a lot better than I thought that they would.