Fuck

12/14/2010 8:49:39 AM

This is going to be the best rotation since...






I don't know, someone help me out. Please don't don't me its the best ever. Please please please don't tell me that.

12/14/2010 8:50:09 AM

Braves in 98

12/14/2010 8:51:08 AM

Better than that 98 Braves.

12/14/2010 8:54:38 AM

Maybe. Depends if you like Neagle or Avery for the your #4.

12/14/2010 8:55:07 AM

Quote :

"Better than that 98 Braves."

Could be

Haven't thrown a pitch yet

[Edited on December 14, 2010 at 8:58 AM. Reason : 98 > 93 because Millwood > Pete Smith. 98 was an ace on the mound every single game.]

12/14/2010 8:56:43 AM

Please excuse me while I go hang myself.

Sick in the shortterm but interesting situation in 2-3 years..

12/14/2010 8:59:23 AM

If cole hamels pitches like he did last year, it's better than the '97 or '98 braves rotations that included neagle and millwood in their primes along with smoltz, glavine, and maddux. The rest of the NL East is in for a long upcoming season....

12/14/2010 9:07:54 AM

Their lineup will only have to put up 2 or 3 runs a game instead of 8 or 9.

12/14/2010 9:29:48 AM

It is being reported from private sources around Philly radio that Lee said the Yankees never really had a shot a signing him. Stemming back from the world series two years ago when Yankees fans were throwing shit at Lee's wife and taunting her. He said she never wanted to go back there again.

He was just trolling them the whole time. Fucking LOL.

12/14/2010 10:40:46 AM

http://www.cliftonphiferlee.com/

lol

12/14/2010 11:12:32 AM

More like he was afraid of what Philly fans were gonna do to him if he ever had to go back there with a different uniform on

12/14/2010 11:12:34 AM

^^^ also this year with texas

12/14/2010 11:57:34 AM

Quote :

"when Yankees fans were throwing shit at Lee's wife and taunting her. He said she never wanted to go back there again."

Cause fans in Philadelphia are so classy

but somebody try and convince me how its not gonna be a Boston/Philly WS next year

12/14/2010 12:17:33 PM

^ if Beckett and lackey don't cut it they could end up like the yankee teams from the last decade that lose in the alds or alcs

12/14/2010 12:24:12 PM

Fuck. I went to the Phillies site to try and buy a partial season ticket plan so I would be guaranteed a world series ticket and all packages are sold out already. Full season and partial.

12/14/2010 12:34:32 PM

^^they definitely could...but if Boston stays healthy, their lineup is just loaded

12/14/2010 1:36:44 PM

Beckett and Lackey haven't suffered as much from injuries as much as they've suffered from just sucking recently. Both guys have track records so you expect them to bounce back somewhat, but they could go AJ Burnett and fuck everything up.


And is there lineup really that much better than last year? Forget about the injuries for a second...They're basically subbing in Gonzalez and Crawford for Beltre and Martinez. A step up, sure, but not the monumental one people are making it out to be.

12/14/2010 1:47:01 PM

Quote :

"Both guys have track records so you expect them to bounce back somewhat"

eh, not so much lackey. he was already likely to start declining when the red sox signed him.

this was me this morning when i saw that the phillies got cliff lee



this is the best offseason ever

12/14/2010 3:57:52 PM

I was all like

12/14/2010 4:02:32 PM

i love the fat guy behind him

"FUCK YOU. FUCK YOU. FUCK.."

12/14/2010 4:15:52 PM

As much as I hate that the Braves are going to have to face Cliff Lee now, I'm more glad that he screwed the Yankees. They can go burn in hell with their faggy, shitty, overpaid SS

12/14/2010 9:51:23 PM

i don't know why anyone would be mad about this. even if your team missed out on signing him, or if he's pitching in the same division as your team, the 2011 phillies could very well have the greatest pitching staff ever assembled (on paper) and are poised to make a joke out of the national league. they could easily break the single season win record. i can't wait to watch this team next year. it's gonna be awesome.

i also have nothing against phillies fans and have never experienced how truly awful they are, so there's that too.

12/14/2010 10:06:18 PM

rallydurham says the O/U for Phillies wins next year is 148

12/14/2010 10:09:18 PM

I think Beckett may have a bounce back year, but I'm still not sure why Theo signed Lackey last offseason. Lackey/Dice K are horribly overpaid for 4 and 5 pitchers in the rotation. I still think the last major move Theo can make is if he dumps Dice-K somewhere. I also think one reason people are more excited about the Sox offense this year is that you can't expect Pedroia, Ellsbury, Youk, etc. to all miss considerable time again and Crawford/Gonzalez are much more consistent/dynamic than Beltre/V-Mart.

I'm excited to watch the Phillies too though. Pitching staff has the potential to be one of the best ever.

12/14/2010 10:13:03 PM

Rat Soup sounds like an InsideCarolina poster

12/14/2010 10:46:23 PM

Quote :

"It is being reported from private sources around Philly radio that Lee said the Yankees never really had a shot a signing him. Stemming back from the world series two years ago when Yankees fans were throwing shit at Lee's wife and taunting her. He said she never wanted to go back there again."

Well, if he'd ended up a Yankee, he could just expect to have batteries thrown at him in Philadelphia in next year's WS.

Every comparison I've read says that this is the best rotation since whatever year the Braves had Smoltz, Glavine, Maddux, Avery, and Wohlers to close (93-95?).

Ugh...
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/yankees/2010/12/14/2010-12-14_with_cliff_lee_out_of_the_picture_yankees_look_for_other_options_to_bolster_thei.html

The Yankees need bullpen support now. Not fucking Carlos Zambrano. And Greinke isn't coming.

[Edited on December 15, 2010 at 12:26 AM. Reason : .]

12/15/2010 12:24:12 AM

Halladay/Lee/Oswalt/Hamels

How did the other teams let this happen? The rest of the NL East should just dump their payrolls to teams with a shot.

^You're right about that. Greinke is going to the Twins... check the well-informed Twins thread

12/15/2010 12:36:35 AM

Greinke would kill himself the first time he gets booed by Yankee fans

Yankees signed Mark Prior to a minor league deal, though

lol

12/15/2010 11:33:44 AM

^Aww, poor Zack. But you're right... if gets sad from the pressure of being in KC he will never be able to handle another team.

Playing for KC is like playing Pony League.

12/15/2010 12:52:57 PM

Quote :

"i don't know why anyone would be mad about this."

Maybe because we are fans of another team that the Phillies are going to face-rape this season. I am a die hard Braves fan and it pisses me off that the Phillies have been able to assemble a potentially historic rotation that consists of one home grown starter. Who the fuck wouldn't be upset knowing that their MLB team's chances just got flushed down the drain in fucking December.

12/15/2010 2:11:57 PM

Greinke could come play in Atlanta where noone shows up to the games and those that do don't make too much noise.

Or, even, better, Oakland.

12/15/2010 2:57:48 PM

A Royals player coming to Atlanta

That only happens in bizarro world

12/15/2010 3:03:33 PM

Quote :

"Rat Soup sounds like an InsideCarolina poster"

not sure what this is supposed to mean

Quote :

"Maybe because we are fans of another team that the Phillies are going to face-rape this season. I am a die hard Braves fan and it pisses me off that the Phillies have been able to assemble a potentially historic rotation that consists of one home grown starter. Who the fuck wouldn't be upset knowing that their MLB team's chances just got flushed down the drain in fucking December."

i addressed all these things. plus, there's this thing called the wild card. and the phillies' emergence as a power house team has been fairly recent. who the fuck did they have in the early 2000s? they were an after thought for years. it's not like they're the yankees and have been winning their division year in and year out and either making it to the world series, ALCS or ALDS every year. and most of that team's core players will be free agents soon anyway. even though the phillies have halladay and lee at the top of the rotation for a few more years, they probably won't be perennial favorites to win the NL for a long period of time.

[Edited on December 15, 2010 at 3:48 PM. Reason : .]

12/15/2010 3:29:48 PM

here's how lee's contract works. it's extremely backloaded, probably because of current season salary issues, which is going to make the future phillies salary problems much worse

2011: $11 million
2012: $21.5 million
2013: $25 million
2014: $25 million
2015: $25 million
2016: $27.5 million vesting option ($12.5 million buyout)

12/15/2010 9:33:26 PM

Did the Phillies agree to pick up Oswalts 2012 option when they traded for him? I'm guessing he'll be gone and most of his money is going to Cliff Lee for '12-16

[Edited on December 15, 2010 at 9:44 PM. Reason : 16]

12/15/2010 9:43:28 PM

i'm not sure, but if they did pick it up, which i'm guessing they probably did, then they owe him $16 mil in 2012. if they didn't, then oswalt, raul ibanez, brad lidge, jimmy rollins, cole hamels, placido polanco, ryan madson, and probably some other players could all potentially be gone after next year. that'd definitely free up a little bit of cash for what they owe ryan howard (lol), halladay and lee over the next few years. i'm sure they'll let at least ibanez and lidge go. they've got even more players who will be eligible for free agency after 2012, so i think this team will look drastically different in 2 years and probably not in nearly as good shape as they look for this coming season. their financial situation is gonna be pretty shitty because of the way they've structured the contracts of their three highest paid players. it's such a win now philosophy, but it'll probably pay off for next year at the very least.

[Edited on December 15, 2010 at 9:59 PM. Reason : .]

12/15/2010 9:57:23 PM

Bobby Jenks gets 2 years/12 million from Boston

[Edited on December 16, 2010 at 2:58 PM. Reason : .]

12/16/2010 2:58:13 PM

greinke, SS y.betancourt and $2M to the brewers
SS A.escobar, CF L.cain, P Jeremy Jeffress and P jake odorizzi to the royals...

don't know much about the players KC got other than escobar and cain. i want to say the two pitchers aren't any better than mid rotation/bullpen types. seems like a good deal for both sides, although since zack is so proven, i'd say they got the better end of this one.

[Edited on December 19, 2010 at 8:56 AM. Reason : ]

12/19/2010 8:52:27 AM

^ I really like that trade for the Brewers. They got a true #1 starter and only gave up:

1. Escobar - dude was beyond horrible last year, Jeff Franceour bad. Nearly a sub .600 OPS. Definitely will not be the future superstar people projected a few years back.

2. Cain - obviously the central piece for the Royals. He actually still has an upside and great speed so time will tell on him.

Don't know shit about the two pitchers thrown in.

Betancourt is addition by subtraction. I honestly cannot believe this is the best deal the Royals could get for Greinke. The Braves could have made a better offer if they had the money to keep Grienke long term.

Also seeing that the Brewers got Shaun Marcum, this gives them Greinke, Gallardo, and Marcum which is a very strong 1-3. I like the moves they are making to strengthen the rotation.





[Edited on December 19, 2010 at 10:20 AM. Reason : []

12/19/2010 9:52:35 AM

^^It's Cain, Escobar, Odorizzi, & a PTBNL

^ Odorizzi has big upside, meaning I assume the Royals view him as the "central piece"

12/19/2010 12:29:55 PM

Quote :

"^^It's Cain, Escobar, Odorizzi, & a PTBNL"

what are you talking about
http://twitter.com/Kevin_Goldstein/status/16567211061673984
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=5935586
http://onmilwaukee.com/sports/articles/brewersgreinketrade.html
jeffress is in the deal

[Edited on December 19, 2010 at 10:41 PM. Reason : ]

12/19/2010 10:40:51 PM

Didn't look at the greinke deal that much til this morning. What a one sided trade for the brewers. Dayton Moore just further solidified the fact that he's a horrible horrible GM. Between him and the padres' GM making shitty trades this offseason im just even more convinced that all GMs are fucking stupid. Bill Smith made that awful trade for the twins with the orioles too.

12/20/2010 10:14:53 AM

Ruben Amaro Jr and Theo Epstein are looking like bosses.

12/20/2010 10:19:02 AM

Ruben amaro is like an idiot savant. Ryan howard's contract is laughably horrible. Raul ibanez' is pretty bad too. He trades away some good prospects for halladay (probably worth it), then gives away cliff lee for peanuts because he didn't think lee would resign. Acquiring Roy oswalt was probably the result of taking advantage of an even stupider GM (ed wade), so i guess he gets props for that. They're definitely in a good spot, so its hard to hate on the guy, but he has made some pretty dumb moves. And i think in 2012 they have like $113 million tied up in basically 9 players, which will end up being more if hamels accepts arbitration i think. That's a lot of money in 1/3 of the team, which is pretty stupid in my opinion, but we'll see how it works out for them

12/20/2010 11:04:22 AM

^ I was looking at the Phillies commitments beyond 2011 and they are going to be in a world of shit unless they want a Yankees style payroll. Howard's contract is ridiculous and all of these back loaded contracts are eventually going to catch up to Amaro.

12/20/2010 5:27:50 PM

Howard was worth about $8 million last year

12/20/2010 5:43:29 PM

Orioles have been talking to adam laroche for like 2 weeks now. Looking like he could get a deal for 3/$18 mil. I'd rather see them platoon nolan reimold and Luke Scott at 1b and sign jim thome to be the DH until a better 1b is available, but i guess this wouldn't be that bad of a deal. If the pitching holds up this could be a decent team that might win 81 games if it wasn't in the AL east

12/22/2010 8:36:26 AM

Webb, Beltre, Rhodes signed with Rangers since last posts...other stuff too

Alomar and Blyleven elected to HOF today, but my big question here is this:

How does McGwire get 20% of votes while Palmeiro get only 11%? Only way I could rationalize that is McGwire has admitted...KIND OF...that he took PEDs while Palmeiro continues to lie. But then I looked back and McGwire received like 22% of the votes his first time around before he had admitted anything.

Why are twice as many writers voting for McGwire than Palmeiro?

1/5/2011 2:59:09 PM

PEDs aside, Big Mac was a much more popular player, and had a better peak. Palmeiro probably had the better career, but was under the radar most of the time, while McGuire was on Sportscenter and SI every other day.

1/5/2011 3:03:42 PM