***OFFICIAL MLB 2016 THREAD***

[gut]

 

https://vine.co/v/iTZPrgt5rmZ

[big dick]

Bad day for the Cubs, looks like Schwarber might have broke his leg and Baez was rehabbing and got hit in the head.

I just hope the curse isn;t starting to show it's face

[gut]

Trevor Story hit his 7th HR in the 6th game of the year today. Of course its small sample size and etc, but I'm hoping he continues to produce at an above average level, if only to be another example of a guy breaking through after the scouts soured on him. He was a highly regarded prospect, drafted out of high school who played well his first 2 seasons, then struggled his first year of high A ball (at age 20 btw). He also struggled in his first 3 month exposure to AA. After that, the scouts had pretty much relegated him to being a middle tier prospect....maybe at his best he could be a utility infielder, which it actually says in THIS YEARS MLB.com prospect write-up, where he was only ranked as the 11th best prospect in the Rockies system. His stats from last season? Split equally between AA/AAA, he hit .279/.350/.514, with 70 extra base hits (40 doubles, 10 triples, 20 homers)!

His ratings on that MLB.com prospect list coming into this year for his hitting? Hit-45, power-50 (on the 20-80 scale). So a slightly below avg hitter with avg power. Lol.

tl;dr baseball scouting is as fickle a profession as a weatherman.

[jsearles22]

Just a weekly reminder that we arent going anywhere soon:



Royals young hitters have actually underperformed their expectations immensely the last few seasons. This is going to be a scary team if guys like Moustakas start hitting

[gut]

Toronto from this season and last season is a great example of an ultimate "fell through the cracks of the scouting system" team....and just so happens to be the best offense in baseball. Tulowitski, Goins, and to a lesser extent Encarnacion are probably the only 3 who have always been "properly rated" their entire careers, although Toronto acquired Encarnacion when he was at a low point and under-performing. Most of the rest?

Russell Martin........17th round draft choice
Jose Bautista.....labeled a bust in the majors after his first 5 years in PIT
Josh Donaldson.....a forgotten/struggling prospect who couldn't make it full time in the bigs until age 26
Kevin Pillar....drafted in the 32nd round
Chris Colabello....never even drafted! played 7 (7!!) years of Indy ball before getting a minor league deal with the twins at age 28.

[gut]

http://m.mlb.com/video/topic/6479266...th-nifty-slide


Goose Gossage would have called him out, just on principal.

[snake_in_the_ass]

Dodgers swept Padres and shut them out all 3 games.

Yasiel Puig looks the best he has since 2013.

Reportedly the improvement in Puig was due to him "toning down" the offseason workouts. The Dodgers actually asked him to be LESS muscular, as he bulked up too much and it made him slow and injury-prone, So he did that, and now he's playing a lot better. If Puig, Pederson, and Seager keep hitting, this will be a very tough offense.

Kazmir and Maeda, both of whom I was skeptical of, looked great in their first starts. But this was against the Padres, who have a horrendous offense.

I am reserving judgment on the rotation until they play some teams with good bats.

The Giants are one of them, so we will see how this next series goes.

After sweeping the pathetic Padres, the Dodgers have lost 4 out of 5.

[Dan Druff]

Dodgers swept Padres and shut them out all 3 games.

Yasiel Puig looks the best he has since 2013.

Reportedly the improvement in Puig was due to him "toning down" the offseason workouts. The Dodgers actually asked him to be LESS muscular, as he bulked up too much and it made him slow and injury-prone, So he did that, and now he's playing a lot better. If Puig, Pederson, and Seager keep hitting, this will be a very tough offense.

Kazmir and Maeda, both of whom I was skeptical of, looked great in their first starts. But this was against the Padres, who have a horrendous offense.

I am reserving judgment on the rotation until they play some teams with good bats.

The Giants are one of them, so we will see how this next series goes.

After sweeping the pathetic Padres, the Dodgers have lost 4 out of 5.

Because the bullpen sucks

[snake_in_the_ass]

After sweeping the pathetic Padres, the Dodgers have lost 4 out of 5.

Because the bullpen sucks

The only good players on the team are Adrian, Kershaw, and Puig.

[big dick]

no bullpen = fucked

[DRK Star]

[Sanlmar]

The Cubs are the only Pure organization other than the Royals.

Ownership, President Theo Epstein (Red Sox) GM Jed Hoyer (Red Sox) and of course Joe Maddon. The young players. Every element is praiseworthy.

Theo Epstein trading for a questionable pitcher named Arrietta with Orioles, Dan Duquette (yup, Red Sox). Epstein fleeced the Orioles in this deal. In Duquette's defense he was going balls to the wall for a title so I respect that.

Epstein is god. I had my moments with him but he was tainted by the Red Sox and had the integrity to tell them to fuck off. I apologize Theo.

The Cubs are loaded and it's fashionable to tail the front runner. But if you dig deep you just can't help being genuine in your love for them and can defend your position.

They aren't the Yankees, Red Sox or Dodgers. All three are despicable. The Cubs are pure.

Enjoy the next decade, boys.

Edit:
I just saw the Cubs run differential +29. Ridiculous.

[Sanlmar]

Because the bullpen sucks

The only good players on the team are Adrian, Kershaw, and Puig.

Don't feel sorry for the Dodgers. They had their shot. They had a team others spend a decade assembling. Druff & their GM refused to trade for a bullpen at trade deadline then too.

Some nonsense about prospects over championships. Baseball has variance. The playoffs and the world is an uncertain place.

Back to rebuilding for another shot which they will certainly waste yet again.

The Dodgers will remarkably still will find themselves in the postseason. . For the same reason they always did. The cream puff schedule.

Even though they are weaker, what I didn't factor in was the depths of the tanking (like NBA) that is going on in the a national league.

But like every year, the Dodgers will not be built for the the second season (playoffs).

[Dan Druff]

Because the bullpen sucks

The only good players on the team are Adrian, Kershaw, and Puig.

Not true. The offense is actually pretty good all around.

You're forgetting super-rookie Corey Seager, plus Joc Pederson is looking better, and Justin Turner is still hitting despite the offseason surgery.

This lineup should score runs, but the pitching is pretty bad. Kershaw and Jansen are great, but the rest of the bullpen is awful, and of the other starters, only Maeda seems any good (and he can get hurt at any moment).

Unfortunately this team is looking a bit too much like the Diamondbacks right now.

So far the Giants look the best in the NL West, but their pitching beyond Bumgarner also isn't very good. Maybe Cueto bounces back, but he seems headed for a down hear. The rest of their rotation stinks. Pretty good bullpen on the team, but starting pitching will be an issue.

Cubs are the best team in the NL, and might be for awhile.

Dodgers could still get lucky in the playoffs. Maybe they'll promote Urias and De Leon to pitch midseason, and both will be lights out. We'll see.

[Henry]

One final note... Noah Syndergaard throwing 99 mph sinkers and 95 mph sliders to start the year. Watch out.

Yea, this is real. The slider is real. It's rare to see a pitcher reach a ceiling like this. I'm a big fan of elite pitching - living in Chicago I am spoiled with Arrieta and Sale - and Syndergaard's now in that class with Kershaw.

[Dan Druff]

.... as if the Braves didn't have enough problems being 0-7 with little change in sight.

Hector Olivera was taken into custody by the Arlington Police Department early Wednesday after a woman called 911 from the Ritz Carlton at Pentagon City claiming that she had just been assaulted. She had visible bruises, police sources told Jeff Goldberg of ABC7 in Washington, D.C. MLB has already opened its own investigation.

On the bright side for Olivera, Jose Reyes dodged criminal charges with his domestic violence case.

[BeerAndPoker]

Jake Arrieta throws a no hitter in a 16-0 blowout for the Cubs. That is a lot of idle time on the bench\ with all that offense.

[simpdog]

Lol at the fan celebrating jumping with catcher and Arrieta.

Can't wait for the video/gifs on that.

[simpdog]

1:53

[bukowski72]

"Kris Bryant started the homer barrage in the first inning.

Bryant later hit a grand slam, the third of his career, and tied his career high in hits with four, and in RBI with six.

That wasn't the only long ball of the night, as Ben Zobrist (his first as a Cub), Anthony Rizzo and David Ross (his first as a Cub not as a pitcher) all went deep.

Even Jake joined in on the offense, with two hits and a walk.

It reduced Jake's ERA to 0.87."

http://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/2016/...ant-mlb-scores