1561

Luckily Cabrera led the Tigers to the playoffs in a pretty crappy division since they won one less game than the Angels. Detroit would have finished 4th in the West, 5 games behind. I understand how rare it is but the Triple Crown is way too dependent on how good your teammates are, in my opinion. I’d love a site that showed how many times Cabrera knocked in Jackson, for example. If Jackson had hit .250 like he did last season then there’s no Crown for sure.

1562

Saunders had better offensive numbers than either of the three you listed as having good seasons. Defensively, Saunders is generally regarded as a plus defender - especially in a corner spot, while Seager is adequate, Montero is a joke, and Gutierrez can’t stay on the field. Montero, sadly, was nearly as bad as Smoak and Ackley offensively. Hopefully moving the fences in helps at least one of those three develop into something useful.

I can’t imagine they’ll pick up Olivo’s option. They’ll go with the $750k buyout instead - especially with Jaso’s performance and the way Zunino hit upon being promoted to AA.

The pitching staff seems pretty deep. Felix is signed, as are several younger back of the rotation types (Noesi, Beaven). A big question is whether the team will bring back Jason Vargas, who produced another solid season but who looked a lot better at home then on the road. Another question is whether Hisashi Iwakuma, the japanese veteran who performed well once inserted into the rotation mid-season, will come back. And the team never did bring up any of its top pitching prospects, so they are in the mix as well for next year.

Moving the fences in hurts Vargas. Hopefully the try to move him or get him to sign for less than what he should get in arbitration. Iwakuma probably should have been in the rotation all year, but instead Wedge didn’t like what he saw in Spring Training and let him sit in the bullpen for the first two months, pitching in a grand total of 5 games for 15.0 innings during the first two months of the season. Hopefully he doesn’t hold that against the organization.

They’re going to need to bring him back, or sign another stop gap like Millwood because all 3 of the big pitching prospects had problems this year. Paxton was ok when he was healthy, but the control issues still remain. Hultzen dominated AA and then was amazingly bad when promoted to AAA, walking 43 in 48 innings. Not good for a guy who is supposed to rely more on control than stuff. Walker started the season incredibly but struggled in the second half. Still, the strikeouts were there and the walks were reasonable. He’s still the best of the bunch but I wouldn’t count on any of them breaking camp with the team next year.

1563

Stopped by the sports book on the way home from work tonight to check out the odds for the winner of the World Series.

Braves 11/1
Orioles 20/1
Reds 7/1
Tigers 7/1
Yankees 5/1
Athletics 5/1
Giants 5/1
Cardinals 15/1
Rangers 6/1
Nationals 7/1

So, they think all the wild cards (except the Rangers) to be longshots to go the distance. The Yankees, Giants and A’s seem to be favorites, everyone else sort of hovering just below that.

1564

Rangers have surprisingly good odds. I’d rather give them 8/1 or so, and bump Nats up to 5/1 or 6/1 honestly. I wouldn’t put the A’s that high, but they are on a roll so…

— Alan

1565

It’s probably because of the one game playoff. I definitely wouldn’t want to be on any of the wildcards since anything can happen in one game. I would probably put the Rangers a little lower because of that and probably the A’s too. But then again aren’t betting lines based more on how people are betting or will be betting then on actual probabilities?

1566

Well I wasn’t really talking about defense, just hitting. Seager was their best overall hitter and while Saunders had some positives, he also lead the team in strikeouts. I’m not saying they don’t bring him back, just that he didn’t quite have the breakout season that makes me confident he’s going to turn into something better then a good defender and adequate hitter. Gutierrez, when healthy, is just as good a defender and a better hitter. Montero’s defense isn’t really an issue because he’s likely a DH/1B rather then a catcher long-term. And I don’t agree that he was as bad as Smoak and Ackley. His OPS+ was a decent 95 (especially for his first year) compared to 87 and 79 for two guys who are not rookies anymore.

The interesting question is what positions they go after for better hitting if you give the kids all another shot. You have maybe one outfield spot open under those circumstances.

1567

Not specifically; betting lines are based on what books believe will gain equal amounts of action either way. Props are a bit different, however, and are designed to nickel & dime gamblers while being able to fend off the chances of a long-shot bankrupting you.

— Alan

1568

Yeah, and my guess that since almost everyone here roots for the Giants and/or the A’s, they can undervalue them a little since the bookies can count on people placing bets on those teams regardless of true odds.

1569

Braves strike first! 2-0.

1570

So for only $5, I figured it was worth trying out this Postseason.TV thing they’ve got at MLB.com. It’s decent, but not great. You get the standard four camera angles of a baseball broadcast and can show them all in a quarter-screen layout, but you don’t get to see replays. And the announcers are the TBS guys, who are awful. Still, for $5, I’m not going to complain too hard.

1571

I assume that’s for the whole playoffs, right? (Not just one game)

Cards jump up 3-2, but the Braves are threatening with 1st and 3rd and one out … and now we have some insanity as the catcher throws the bunt into right field but they call interference on the runner and no one scores for the Braves.

1572

That ‘postseason.tv’ is not included in my mlb.tv premium subscription is just the kind of idiocy that MLB delivers.

1573

All the games on TBS, at least. I don’t think it’s for the FOX ones, but those are on broadcast anyway.

And I dunno about that interference call. Maybe it was according to the rules, maybe not…but if so it’s a dumb rule. Fielders ought to be responsible for getting the ball around a runner, as long as he’s not out of the baseline.

Edit: Eh, on second thought, good call. Looked at the replay on mlb.com. He was pretty far inside the line.

1574

I couldn’t initially tell from the live shot, but the ball actually hit the top of his helmet and skipped off – it wasn’t an off-target throw. He didn’t seem more than a foot or two on the grass to me, but they didn’t argue the call at all, so I guess they thought it was acceptable.

1575

That’s interference pretty clearly. Kudos to the umps for making the tough, correct call in a hostile environment in the postseason.

1576

BTW, expect some anger because the other play-in game is apparently only available on the MLB Network (the cable/dish MLB network) in a number of markets, or so I’m told.

1577

Also, bigger question: wtf was Andrelton Simmons doing bunting with the pitcher up behind him and a runner on third?

Freeman did not break to the plate, so that wasn’t a safety squeeze. Had he not interfered with the ball, it would have been 2nd and 3rd with the pitcher up and 2 outs.

Terrible play. Gonzalez said it was a safety squeeze, but I think he’s covering for his player.

1578

Holliday! 4-2 Cards.

Considering his big error in the Cards 3-run inning, this will be a rough loss for Chipper Jones if this ends up being his final game.

1579

I’ll address that later when it has less a chance to be a jinx. Don’t think the Braves are going to go quietly into that good night here.

Cardinals have two guys warming up, and if they can hold a lead they put it in the hands of (for better or worse, but usually better) the Law Firm.

1580

This is the part of the ATL order that has done their damage today.