MLB 2016

[Lennys Tap]

Jesus suiting up for the Cubs is just as likely as the Cubs trading for Braun.

Cubs already have plenty of middle infielders.

[buckchuckler]

Cubs already have plenty of middle infielders.

What?  I thought he was a catcher?  http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/monteje01.shtml

[MerrittsMustache]

What?  I thought he was a catcher?  http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/monteje01.shtml

A .253 career hitter?

[naginiF]

I'm a huge Cubs fan, but go to between 5-10 Sox games a year.  Never seen anything like this.  It's a beautiful park, (the upper deck could continue to be improved) and a lot of fun for families.  I take my 10, 7, and 4 year-old often.

I probably should've put 'family friendly' in teal.  Anyway - May 22nd, section 123 behind Royals dugout (row 18 if memory serves).  naginiF family won't be hard to spot.

Also - by FAR the worst experiences i've had at sporting events were both in Indianapolis at Colt games.  The combination of a genuine lack of football knowledge, insecurity and machismo is a bad one.

[RushmoreAcademy]

I know the Cubs swept, but to walk Harper 13 times (and a HBP), cmon.  Especially Arrieta.  He is the freaking reigning Cy Young winner.  To be the best, you gotta walk the best, I guess.  Can't see Kershaw doing that.  To me that makes last week's 7-0 all pretty hollow.   

I assume that wink means the entire thing is teal.  If not, this is maybe the worst post in the history of the internet.

[buckchuckler]

So Kershaw just keeps doing his thing.  77 Ks to 4 BB this season.  4.  None of which have scored.  Another Cy Young leader, Jake Arrieta, has 3 starts in which he has walked 4. That's right, a K/BB rate of almost 20.  5 times better than Chris Sale's ratio.  He just had his 5th consecutive game of 10 or more Ks (Neither Chicago ace has a single one).  This guy is just dominant.  He has 2 CG shutouts, each allowing 4 and 3 baserunners. 

Trout and Harper get the bulk of the love in baseball right now.  But this guy is astounding.  He is a generational talent.  If he retired tomorrow, I think he'd safely be in the HOF.  According to BBref, the most similar pitchers through 27 are Seaver, Pedro and Clemens.  He has already won 4  titles. That equals Greg Maddux and Randy Johnson, and outpaces most HOFer (the only players with more are Lefty Grove, Clemens, Pete Alexander, Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson, Kofax and Pedro).  He is pitching this season at 28. 

Kershaw is currently leading the league in CG, SH, IP, K, WHIP, FIP, K/9, K/BB.

Just watching his starts is worth the price of MLB.tv. 

Sorry, and now back to our regularly scheduled program...

[jesmu84]

So Kershaw just keeps doing his thing.  77 Ks to 4 BB this season.  4.  None of which have scored.  Another Cy Young leader, Jake Arrieta, has 3 starts in which he has walked 4. That's right, a K/BB rate of almost 20.  5 times better than Chris Sale's ratio.  He just had his 5th consecutive game of 10 or more Ks (Neither Chicago ace has a single one).  This guy is just dominant.  He has 2 CG shutouts, each allowing 4 and 3 baserunners. 

Trout and Harper get the bulk of the love in baseball right now.  But this guy is astounding.  He is a generational talent.  If he retired tomorrow, I think he'd safely be in the HOF.  According to BBref, the most similar pitchers through 27 are Seaver, Pedro and Clemens.  He has already won 4  titles. That equals Greg Maddux and Randy Johnson, and outpaces most HOFer (the only players with more are Lefty Grove, Clemens, Pete Alexander, Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson, Kofax and Pedro).  He is pitching this season at 28. 

Kershaw is currently leading the league in CG, SH, IP, K, WHIP, FIP, K/9, K/BB.

Just watching his starts is worth the price of MLB.tv. 

Sorry, and now back to our regularly scheduled program...

PEDs

[RushmoreAcademy]

So Kershaw just keeps doing his thing.  77 Ks to 4 BB this season.  4.  None of which have scored.  Another Cy Young leader, Jake Arrieta, has 3 starts in which he has walked 4. That's right, a K/BB rate of almost 20.  5 times better than Chris Sale's ratio.  He just had his 5th consecutive game of 10 or more Ks (Neither Chicago ace has a single one).  This guy is just dominant.  He has 2 CG shutouts, each allowing 4 and 3 baserunners. 

Trout and Harper get the bulk of the love in baseball right now.  But this guy is astounding.  He is a generational talent.  If he retired tomorrow, I think he'd safely be in the HOF.  According to BBref, the most similar pitchers through 27 are Seaver, Pedro and Clemens.  He has already won 4  titles. That equals Greg Maddux and Randy Johnson, and outpaces most HOFer (the only players with more are Lefty Grove, Clemens, Pete Alexander, Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson, Kofax and Pedro).  He is pitching this season at 28. 

Kershaw is currently leading the league in CG, SH, IP, K, WHIP, FIP, K/9, K/BB.

Just watching his starts is worth the price of MLB.tv. 

Sorry, and now back to our regularly scheduled program...

The problem is not that Kershaw is great, but that for you him being great is somehow an argument that someone else isn't great.

[buckchuckler]

The problem is not that Kershaw is great, but that for you him being great is somehow an argument that someone else isn't great.

No that wasnt the point at all.   

[JWags85]

So Kershaw just keeps doing his thing.  77 Ks to 4 BB this season.  4.  None of which have scored.  Another Cy Young leader, Jake Arrieta, has 3 starts in which he has walked 4. That's right, a K/BB rate of almost 20.  5 times better than Chris Sale's ratio.  He just had his 5th consecutive game of 10 or more Ks (Neither Chicago ace has a single one).  This guy is just dominant.  He has 2 CG shutouts, each allowing 4 and 3 baserunners. 

Trout and Harper get the bulk of the love in baseball right now.  But this guy is astounding.  He is a generational talent.  If he retired tomorrow, I think he'd safely be in the HOF.  According to BBref, the most similar pitchers through 27 are Seaver, Pedro and Clemens.  He has already won 4  titles. That equals Greg Maddux and Randy Johnson, and outpaces most HOFer (the only players with more are Lefty Grove, Clemens, Pete Alexander, Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson, Kofax and Pedro).  He is pitching this season at 28. 

Kershaw is currently leading the league in CG, SH, IP, K, WHIP, FIP, K/9, K/BB.

Just watching his starts is worth the price of MLB.tv. 

Sorry, and now back to our regularly scheduled program...

Absolutely agree that Kershaw is a generational talent, but he's gonna have to shake his fairly earned reputation for not being a big-game playoff pitcher.  By any metric (ERA, WHIP), he's been significantly worse, outside of his 2013 NLDS performance.  Even his NLDS performance against the Cards last year was "better" but still nothing like you'd expect out of a perennial Cy Young candidate.

Yes, Arrieta was also shaky in the playoffs last year but he threw an absolute gem in the biggest game of his career and the biggest Cubs game in 5 years against the Pirates.

I suppose you could say they both may be victims of pitching 225+ innings a year.

[rocky_warrior]

He just had his 5th consecutive game of 10 or more Ks (Neither Chicago ace has a single one). 

I guess Arrieta read your post and decided to correct the situation by throwing 11 Ks yesterday.

[jesmu84]

Well, Bautista finally got what he (maybe) deserved, eh?

[JWags85]

Well, Bautista finally got what he (maybe) deserved, eh?

7 months later, in the last game of a series.  God bless the "unwritten rules of baseball".  You can interpret whatever happened after, but the beaning of Bautista that set it all off was incredible lame in my opinion.

[jesmu84]

7 months later, in the last game of a series.  God bless the "unwritten rules of baseball".  You can interpret whatever happened after, but the beaning of Bautista that set it all off was incredible lame in my opinion.

I just loved that someone actually threw a punch. Normally those things in baseball are all "tough" guys getting in each other's faces, waiting for one of their teammates to hold them back. Not this one. It was awesome.

And if more 2B/SS throw punches for crapty slides, I'm betting there will be fewer crapty slides.

[Blackhat]

 You've got to retaliate right away, you don't wait until next year, regardless scenario.   If you're mad enough to go to blows, do it that game.

[ChitownSpaceForRent]

If I was Bautista, I would have bat flipped right after getting hit.

[naginiF]

Have you been to comiskey? Place is a trash pool with people throwing beer off the upper decks and trying to start fights.

Happy to say we made it out of US Cellular alive.  But man those Sox fans are really something else: talking to the kids about which Royals they have on their fantasy teams, insisting my wife and youngest take their seats on the jammed L, joking about their dominance of the Royals by avoiding a sweep, and generally being nice and good natured.

[buckchuckler]

White Sox have apparently acquired James Shields.  Details still forthcoming. 

[buckchuckler]

Sox give up Fernando Tatis Jr. and Erik Johnson in the deal.  They also receive 29 million towards the contract of Shields.

Love the move for the Sox.  Shields makes a pretty darn good 3 starter, and they are paying him 27 mil for 3 years.  That seems quite a bit better than market rate. 

[Vander Blue Man Group]

Sox give up Fernando Tatis Jr. and Erik Johnson in the deal.  They also receive 29 million towards the contract of Shields.

Love the move for the Sox.  Shields makes a pretty darn good 3 starter, and they are paying him 27 mil for 3 years.  That seems quite a bit better than market rate.

Seems like a solid deal, especially with SD picking up part of the tab. Not sure I'd classify Shields as a 3 overall anymore (although he'll be the Sox 3).

Not sure the Sox are going anywhere though unless they make another move or two.

[4everwarriors]

How 'bout dem Brewers, hey?

[DegenerateDish]

This may sound stupid, but I like the Shields trade more so for 2017 than this year. I'm assuming he won't opt out, but it solves a long term problem, and I'm fine with him being their third starter. If they could get a bat by moving Rodon, I'd be ok with it.

Big week coming up for the Sox. I want to say they have 5 of the top 100 picks in the draft, I know they have two first rounders. For a team that has struggled drafting position players, they need to hit on 2 of these 5 picks.

[buckchuckler]

Seems like a solid deal, especially with SD picking up part of the tab. Not sure I'd classify Shields as a 3 overall anymore (although he'll be the Sox 3).

Not sure the Sox are going anywhere though unless they make another move or two.

Not sure there are more than a few teams that have a better 3 than Shields.  And, I agree Dish, good move for next year as well, especially considering how thin the the free agent class is looking. 

[Vander Blue Man Group]

Not sure there are more than a few teams that have a better 3 than Shields.  And, I agree Dish, good move for next year as well, especially considering how thin the the free agent class is looking.

There a certainly more than a few teams that have a better "3" than Shields, such as the Cubs, Mets, Nats, SF, Cleveland, Toronto. There's also a number of teams you could make a solid argument for as well, such as St. Louis, Texas, TB, etc. 

There's also the difference of being a 3 on any team vs a playoff caliber 3, which I know is subjective.

Shields as actually fairly mediocre at this point, IMO. He's nowhere near the pitcher he was. Still a solid trade considering what he is replacing and the money SD is eating, but I wouldn't expect a ton. We'll see how the move to the AL and the Cell and the move out of Petco goes. 4.50 ERA/4.14 FIP on the road last year. 

[Lennys Tap]

This may sound stupid, but I like the Shields trade more so for 2017 than this year. I'm assuming he won't opt out, but it solves a long term problem, and I'm fine with him being their third starter. If they could get a bat by moving Rodon, I'd be ok with it.

Big week coming up for the Sox. I want to say they have 5 of the top 100 picks in the draft, I know they have two first rounders. For a team that has struggled drafting position players, they need to hit on 2 of these 5 picks.

Agree. This improves their pitching staff for the next 3 years. Another solid move by Rick Hahn.