2014 MLB Season: How Many Pitchers Will Die For Our Sins?

[Ryan8bit]

Re: Joe Maddon leaves Rays

Minnesota is the only current vacancy, and they've been dragging their feet on promoting Molitor. I expect them to be in play.

They'd probably have to pay Maddon like 3x as much as Molitor though, and they still have to pay Gardy for this season. I know there were some questionable purchases last off-season, but I don't feel like this is going to be one of them this time.

Plus, I'm not sure how well Maddon would get along with Terry Ryan given the issues of sabermetrics...

 

[Timby]

Chicago and national sportswriters are wink-winking that the Cubs are going to announce Maddon as their new manager on Friday-ish.

If true, that's a really raw deal for Rick Renteria.

 

[Tom Hendricks]

Chicago and national sportswriters are wink-winking that the Cubs are going to announce Maddon as their new manager on Friday-ish.

If true, that's a really raw deal for Rick Renteria.

I totally agree with you

 

[Yanks]

Ladies and gentlemen.... we have a World Series GAME SEVEN!!!

I love these (if my Yankees aren't playing in them of course)

Can't wait.

ALL HANDS ON DECK!!!

God I love baseball!!

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

Chicago and national sportswriters are wink-winking that the Cubs are going to announce Maddon as their new manager on Friday-ish.

If true, that's a really raw deal for Rick Renteria.

Early word was they would reassign Renteria (where? who knows.)

Renteria might have more of an effect with time, but he didn't seem to keep the teams attention very well over the course of the year.

There were times they responded, but only short periods.

Maybe Maddon really is the missing piece. It would be a hell of a coup if the Cubs do get him.

I do feel bad for Renteria if this is the case.

 

[Timby]

Chicago and national sportswriters are wink-winking that the Cubs are going to announce Maddon as their new manager on Friday-ish.

If true, that's a really raw deal for Rick Renteria.

Early word was they would reassign Renteria (where? who knows.)

Renteria might have more of an effect with time, but he didn't seem to keep the teams attention very well over the course of the year.

There were times they responded, but only short periods.

Maybe Maddon really is the missing piece. It would be a hell of a coup if the Cubs do get him.

I do feel bad for Renteria if this is the case.

They won seven more games than last year and Castro and especially Rizzo had massive rebound seasons, and I have to think a fair amount of that is on Renteria (and possibly Bill Mueller, who unfortunately resigned after the team fired one of his assistants). I mean, Maddon is of course a top-five manager with Tito, Girardi, Showalter and maybe Bochy, and when a guy like that becomes available you want to jump on that, but it's just a really raw deal for Renteria to have the carpet yanked out from underneath him when he had the team headed in the right direction -- it wasn't his fault he had precisely jack and shit after Arrieta for pitching.

 

[MikeH92467]

Re: Joe Maddon leaves Rays

Minnesota is the only current vacancy, and they've been dragging their feet on promoting Molitor. I expect them to be in play.

They'd probably have to pay Maddon like 3x as much as Molitor though, and they still have to pay Gardy for this season. I know there were some questionable purchases last off-season, but I don't feel like this is going to be one of them this time.

Plus, I'm not sure how well Maddon would get along with Terry Ryan given the issues of sabermetrics...

I don't get it. Are you saying that Terry Ryan is a stat-head? Maddon managed the team that was built on analysis of advanced statistics, or are you saying that Maddon would want to use more numbers than Ryan? That's an honest question since I really don't know what the Cubs overall attitude towards Sabremetrics is.

 

[Jedi_Master]

Game Sevens are fun, game sevens where you build drinking games based on what the guy sitting behind home plate in the Marlins sweatshirt is doing are amazing.

 

[Timby]

Re: Joe Maddon leaves Rays

Minnesota is the only current vacancy, and they've been dragging their feet on promoting Molitor. I expect them to be in play.

They'd probably have to pay Maddon like 3x as much as Molitor though, and they still have to pay Gardy for this season. I know there were some questionable purchases last off-season, but I don't feel like this is going to be one of them this time.

Plus, I'm not sure how well Maddon would get along with Terry Ryan given the issues of sabermetrics...

I don't get it. Are you saying that Terry Ryan is a stat-head? Maddon managed the team that was built on analysis of advanced statistics, or are you saying that Maddon would want to use more numbers than Ryan? That's an honest question since I really don't know what the Cubs overall attitude towards Sabremetrics is.

Epstein and Hoyer are disciples of Bill James, so I would say they are very big on sabermetric-based principles.

 

[MikeH92467]

So who the heck is Terry Ryan?

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ Twins' general manager.

 

[Timby]

Jon Heyman is reporting that Maddon has agreed to a deal with the Cubs. It's Heyman, so he could easily be pulling it out of his ass, but the Sun-Times had already reported today that they were in negotiations, so I doubt it.

Buster Olney said a few days ago that if Maddon went to Chicago, the Rays would investigate any possible tampering issues -- so we'll see what happens here.

 

[Trekker4747]

Game 7, it all comes down to this. It's our time, go Royals!

 

[Ultima Thule]

Last game of the season. Any predictions?

 

[MikeH92467]

^ Twins' general manager.

Okay. Well, if Mr. Ryan is hostile to sabremetrics he needs to get on board, because it's no longer a matter of being ahead of the curve, it's a matter of keeping up. I mean, at least one MLB team has bought a supercomputer to do their number-crunching fer God's sake...

Some Tampa Bay fans are expecting Maddon to get a much tougher ride from the Chicago press than he did from the Tampa Bay types. Certainly the press corps in Chicago will be much larger and that breeds heavier pressure, so that's going to be interesting aspect of it.

There's also speculation that the Rays are making noises about pursuing a tampering claim that the Cubs were in touch with Maddon before he walked away. Certainly the timing would make you wonder, but proving it would be awfully tough.

 

[tomalak301]

Game 7, it all comes down to this. It's our time, go Royals!

Agreed, except for the Go Royals part.

Go Giants!!!!

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ I got nothing against the Giants but I hope the Royals win this.

Besides my dad has season tickets to the Storm Chasers (who are in Omaha, where we live) so I guess I have a stake in that.

There's also speculation that the Rays are making noises about pursuing a tampering claim that the Cubs were in touch with Maddon before he walked away.

Explain?

 

[Pondwater]

I love the National League (except for the Phillies) and usually root for whatever National League team that is playing in the World Series but I kind of want the Royals to win this year.

 

[Timby]

There's also speculation that the Rays are making noises about pursuing a tampering claim that the Cubs were in touch with Maddon before he walked away.

Explain?

Well, it is suspect -- the minute Maddon announced his opt-out, the Cubs were immediately speculated to be one of the suitors, and they were also the only "in-play" team (the Mets, Dodgers, Braves, Phillies and Red Sox were among the other teams in that speculation) that didn't immediately come out and say, "So-and-so is our manager." Given the timeline (particularly that the only vacancy in the league was fucking Minnesota) and the events that have unfolded, tampering isn't implausible and it's hard to believe that Maddon leaves a sure thing in Tampa Bay without assurance of getting a better job. So while it isn't outright failing the smell test, there's at least a whiff of something off here.

And I don't think any other executive could pull this off and get away with it, but Theo's an absolute demigod when it comes to PR. After the season, the Cubs repeatedly -- and publicly -- gave Renteria enthusiastic endorsements, saying he was "absolutely" the guy next year, letting him rebuild his coaching staff, etc. You can easily make an argument that they just destroyed his career, because they kicked him to the curb after one season (during which they gave him Literally Nothing).

 

[tomalak301]

^ I got nothing against the Giants but I hope the Royals win this.

Besides my dad has season tickets to the Storm Chasers (who are in Omaha, where we live) so I guess I have a stake in that.

There's also speculation that the Rays are making noises about pursuing a tampering claim that the Cubs were in touch with Maddon before he walked away.

Explain?

I think if you're not a fan of the Giants, than you're rooting for the royals. I won't be bothered if KC wins, even though I will be disappointed. The Royals have been the story of the playoffs. As a Giants fan though, seeing the third title in 5 years would be awesome.