2016 MLB thread. THE CUBS HAVE BROKEN THE CURSE! Chicago Cubs are your 2016 World Series champions

[madj55]

So pay $14 million for Soriano to throw it away? There are only two relievers who deserve that kind of money.

Who are they? And I trust a veteran reliever to not fold under pressure like Storen did. Money isn't really a thing to the Nats, we have the richest owners in baseball. Soriano is here to pretty much be Drew Storen's John Wettland. I'm not saying Storen will turn into Mariano Rivera, but he needs a mentor who can fully put him in the closer mentality. And none of our young core and their extensions will be affected by this contract because Soriano's will be up before it's time for us to sign players to extensions. This is an "all in" move made by Mike Rizzo and I love it.

 

[Bend_The_Knee]

http://niketalk.com/t/521402/mlb-13-the-show-release-date-3-5-13-andrew-mccutchen-earns-cover

 

[ooiron manoo]

They should just have the DH across both leagues now.

Hell nah...

Verducci is a traditionalist but he lost me with:

The end of baseball as it was invented gets a little bit closer.

Then proceeds to talk about how AL teams are at a disadvantage of AL teams having to deal with a lack of a DH and talking about it increasing injuries for AL pitchers. Lost his argument at that point.

Baseball wasn't invented with the DH in mind.

Oh boohoo, AL pitchers risk injury, I'm an NL guy so excuse me for the lack of tears.

Verducci...

I'm open minded, so I don't mind "conference style" play. Division play is great when it's two teams going for the division but it can also get stale when playing cellar dwellers or bottom tier teams (Padres, DBacks, Rockies).

 

[frink85]

Any talk or ideas floating around towards expansion? Adding two more teams to even it out like the nfl...? But then you'd have to push realignment further into 4 divisions. Actually as long as there's two wild cards now...might as well go full NFL style

 

[proshares]

Who are they? And I trust a veteran reliever to not fold under pressure like Storen did. Money isn't really a thing to the Nats, we have the richest owners in baseball. Soriano is here to pretty much be Drew Storen's John Wettland. I'm not saying Storen will turn into Mariano Rivera, but he needs a mentor who can fully put him in the closer mentality. And none of our young core and their extensions will be affected by this contract because Soriano's will be up before it's time for us to sign players to extensions. This is an "all in" move made by Mike Rizzo and I love it.

Only Mo or Kimbrel should get that money.

IDK how you see this as an all in move, it just reeks of Boras going to his go-to guy to again overpay for someone they don't necessarily need. Why else are they only giving him $14mm for the two years and deferring the rest of the payment AFTER 2018? So Boras can look like he got an old, slightly above average reliever one of the richest AAV deals a closer could get. You're overrating Soriano IMO.

 

[mr marcus]

$14 million for a reliever is about the funniest thing I've ever heard of.

He is going to make that much money, and appear in about 70 of the team's minimum of 1,458 innings.

~$200,000 per inning.

Baffling.

mad. enjoy swisher

 

[dland24]

I'm open minded, so I don't mind "conference style" play. Division play is great when it's two teams going for the division but it can also get stale when playing cellar dwellers or bottom tier teams (Padres, DBacks, Rockies).

LOL.

I dont mean to turn this into a "im going to hate on the Dodgers" type argument, but I love how you called the Padres, DBacks and Rockies "cellar dwellers or bottom tier teams" when every single one of these teams has finished higher in the standings than the Dodgers at least once in the last 3 years.

 

[pacmagic2002]

LOL.

I dont mean to turn this into a "im going to hate on the Dodgers" type argument, but I love how you called the Padres, DBacks and Rockies "cellar dwellers or bottom tier teams" when every single one of these teams has finished higher in the standings than the Dodgers at least once in the last 3 years.

GOT EM................ WHOMP WHOMP!!!!!!!!!!

LULZ

 

[ooiron manoo]

I was talking about last season...

...plus you know damn well what I'm talking about.

Glad you used the last three years as reference,

I'm sure you were extremely excited when the Padres, Rockies and DBacks came to town last year in September.

NL West, consistent cellar dwellers: Rockies, Padres, Diamondbacks.

 

[Johnny_Cakes]

I was at that Dodger game when Bryce Harper made his debut and Matt Kemp ended it in extra innings with a home run. I thought the Dodgers were going to run the NL West




Don't get me wrong though, I hate the Giants and am okay with the Dodgers. I also went to a Dodgers-Giants game at Dodger stadium and made sure to wear an appropriate amount of blue.

 

[ooiron manoo]

I wasn't fooled at all, knew that team was going to bottom out. Rotation was a bunch of pitchers from the scrap heap and you can say the same for the offense.

Then they started adding tons of pieces, which is good in the long run, but in the short term there was a lack of chemistry. Team fizzled out.

 

[kevin cleveland]

mad. enjoy swisher

Knowing that a team gave a relief pitcher the same kind of money as the Indians gave him, I will just a little bit more.

 

[madj55]

Only Mo or Kimbrel should get that money.

IDK how you see this as an all in move, it just reeks of Boras going to his go-to guy to again overpay for someone they don't necessarily need. Why else are they only giving him $14mm for the two years and deferring the rest of the payment AFTER 2018? So Boras can look like he got an old, slightly above average reliever one of the richest AAV deals a closer could get. You're overrating Soriano IMO.

IDK how you don't see this as an all in move. Look at our roster. There isn't a single weakness on our team now, we have so much depth it's ridiculous. And if you watched the Nats all season long like I did it was apparent that we needed a shutdown closer. Clippard never was that guy, I only felt comfortable with him closing if he came in with a three run lead because he gave up way too many home runs. Before the injury Storen was a shut down guy and now he's gonna be 100% healthy and a shutdown set up man. Our back end of the bullpen now rivals Atlanta's. Maybe I am overrating Soriano, but like you and others have said in this thread: you don't give a relief pitcher $14 mil. That is, unless you're all in. Soriano is the final piece to a championship team. Just watch.

 

[madj55]

Knowing that a team gave a relief pitcher the same kind of money as the Indians gave him, I will just a little bit more.

Yeah enjoy wasting that money on him for a below .500 squad, while Soriano will be helping the Nats make a World Series push.

 

[jumpmanfromdabay]

The Way the Dodgers faded after all those additions I enjoyed every minute of it

 

[proshares]

I mean, you could say all of the NL West just rotate between sucking and competing they've all won the division twice in the last eight years and Colorado won the WC twice in that span.

 

[Johnny_Cakes]

Nevermind.

 

[jumpmanfromdabay]

Nevermind.

C'mon say what's on your mind

 

[Johnny_Cakes]

Nevermind.

C'mon say what's on your mind

Oh no, I had quoted Proshares and was gonna say he meant to say SF instead of Colorado winning the World Series, but I misread his "WC" for "WS," like World Series.

I don't have a problem saying anything that people wouldn't like

 

[dland24]

Only Mo or Kimbrel should get that money.

IDK how you see this as an all in move, it just reeks of Boras going to his go-to guy to again overpay for someone they don't necessarily need. Why else are they only giving him $14mm for the two years and deferring the rest of the payment AFTER 2018? So Boras can look like he got an old, slightly above average reliever one of the richest AAV deals a closer could get. You're overrating Soriano IMO.

IDK how you don't see this as an all in move. Look at our roster. There isn't a single weakness on our team now, we have so much depth it's ridiculous. And if you watched the Nats all season long like I did it was apparent that we needed a shutdown closer. Clippard never was that guy, I only felt comfortable with him closing if he came in with a three run lead because he gave up way too many home runs. Before the injury Storen was a shut down guy and now he's gonna be 100% healthy and a shutdown set up man. Our back end of the bullpen now rivals Atlanta's. Maybe I am overrating Soriano, but like you and others have said in this thread: you don't give a relief pitcher $14 mil. That is, unless you're all in. Soriano is the final piece to a championship team. Just watch.

You had a championship team last year. And then you shut down....well....you know the story.

 

[dakid23]

Will be in NYC and Philly this spring will mos def catch some games

after this i will have visited 50% of MLB ballparks

 

[651akathepaul]

I don't think spending that kind money on a closer is a waste of money in terms of that player's usage rate comparative to other players who may play more of a bigger role in helping the team win. The problem is the instability of closers being able to continually produce. Not everyone is Mariano Rivera.

If Washington thinks Soriano will convert on 90% of his save opportunities (and does), then it's definitely money well spent given how close this team may be to getting to the WS.

 

[madj55]

You had a championship team last year. And then you shut down....well....you know the story.

We were a strike away TWICE from facing ya'll in the NLCS, without Strasburg. And Strasburg was fatigued down the stretch looking so tired after every start that they scratched him from his last start of the season. If you really believe Strasburg being shut down is the reason we didn't win it all...well...idk what to tell you.

 

[jumpmanfromdabay]

 

[madj55]

Saw that coming, we got back AJ Cole. Same guy we traded for Gio

Best of luck to Morse, he's a good guy and will be missed in DC.