Killeverything's (New)NeverEndingBaseballThread

[UtahRatt]

Piniella retires! Cry! Cry! Cry!

Piniella to step down after Sunday's game
CHICAGO -- Family comes first, and Lou Piniella is headed home to take care of his mother.

When Piniella announced on July 20 that he was retiring at the end of this season, he fully intended to finish the year with the Cubs. But his mother's health prompted him to retire early. Sunday's game against the Braves is Piniella's final as manager. He will take off the uniform for the last time to go home.

"I didn't think my career would end this way," Piniella said prior to the game. "My mom needs me home. She hasn't gotten better since I've been here. In fact, she's had a couple complications.

"Rather than continue to go home and come back, it's not fair to the team and it's not fair to the players," he said. "The best thing is to step down and go home and take care of my mother."

Piniella left the team Aug. 9-12 to be with his 90-year-old mother, Margaret, in Tampa, Fla., and set up in-home care. He calls her every morning, and when he called Sunday to tell her he was headed home, she cried.

"I've enjoyed it here," Piniella said. "Four wonderful years and I've made a lot of friends. We've had some success here and this year has been a little bit of a struggle. Family is important and comes first, and my mom needs me home and that's where I'm going."

Piniella, who turns 67 on Aug. 28, compiled a 316-392 record with the club over three-plus seasons. He guided the team to the National League Central title in his first and second years in 2007-08, and the Cubs posted the best record in the NL in '08 at 97-64.

He is the first Cubs manager in 100 years to lead the team to consecutive postseason apperances.

Rest of the story.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd ... p&c_id=mlb

[TawnyVonJagger]

I am verklempt. Cody Ross was claimed off waivers by the Giants. He was a huge fan favorite, and will be definitely missed.

Thank you, CO-DY, CO-DY, CO-DY...

[tin00can]

Trailing the Rays by one run in the bottom of the 9th, all three Angels batters struck out.

On nine pitches total.

Sigh.

[Machado]

http://beck.mlblogs.com/archives/2010/0 ... going.html
Damon: "I'm not going"
Johnny Damon made his decision in three words: "I'm not going."

The Tigers outfielder told the Tigers on Tuesday he will not waive his no-trade clause to clear a deal to the Red Sox, who placed a waiver claim on him Monday.

Damon had until Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. ET to decide, 48 hours after the Red Sox made their claim, but he said he didn't need any more time to decide after talking with his Tigers teammates, who were unified

"I knew this was going to be to decision," he said Tuesday afternoon, "but I just wanted to be 100 percent sure this is the right thing for me."

Damon said he talked with all of his teammates, who were all supportive in their desire to have him around for the rest of the way. He also talked with Tigers president/general manager Dave Dombrowski, assistant GM Al Avila and manager Jim Leyland, all of whom said the decision was up to him and how he felt about it. They did not pressure him to accept a deal.

"I had a good conversation with Johnny Damon today," Leyland said before Damon announced his decision. "You know what I told him? Do what your heart tells you."

Damon said he talked with former Red Sox teammate David Ortiz and traded text messages with Jason Varitek, both of whom tried to lobby him to accept the deal. Damon said they were looking for a spark on the club. In this case, it would've been the sparkplug from their 2004 World Series team.

Damon said he felt more duty towards his current teammates.

"I would've loved to have gone back and played with Big Papi and Varitek," Damon said, "but that time has come and passed."

The Tigers had placed Damon on waivers last week. With no deal struck, the Tigers will now pull Damon off waivers. They will not be able to trade him the rest of the season.

Damon said he received no assurances that the Tigers will re-sign this winter, when he becomes a free agent. He indicated the Tigers told him it was too soon to decide that.

"I like wearing the Old English D," he said, "and I hope to again. I can't say it enough."

[johnk5150]

Piniella retires! Cry! Cry! Cry!

Piniella to step down after Sunday's game
CHICAGO -- Family comes first, and Lou Piniella is headed home to take care of his mother.

Make no bones about this. Pieniella was canned Saturday night. Considering he's been stealing money for the last 18 months, no one here is heartbroken. I was not one of the idiots giving him a standing O on Sunday. How fitting he started the season losing to Atl 16-5 and finishes his season losing to Atl 16-5.

The Cubs are a fucking WRECK.

[bane]

The Astros and Phils go 18 and Roy Oswalt plays Left Field. Only in baseball. Sometimes the MLB really kicks ass.

[tin00can]

Posted on angelswin.com about Mark Saxon saying the Angels should get Carl Crawford in the offseason (duh, that's some good writin' there!):

"The Yankees don't really need another outfielder, so he'll end up being a Yankee anyway just because.

I hate that organization."



I couldn't have said it better.

[JakeYonkel]

You gotta admit there's a bit of irony there coming from the team that doled out $50M+ in consecutive offseasons for one-year-wonder Gary Matthews Jr (and subsequently benched him) and then Torii Hunter (who's already moved to RF)... and also signed Yankee cast-off outfielders the past two offseasons.

Not that it has a ton to do with Crawford directly... but I still chuckled.

[tin00can]

You gotta admit there's a bit of irony there coming from the team that doled out $50M+ in consecutive offseasons for one-year-wonder Gary Matthews Jr (and subsequently benched him) and then Torii Hunter (who's already moved to RF)... and also signed Yankee cast-off outfielders the past two offseasons.

Not that it has a ton to do with Crawford directly... but I still chuckled.

Ha ha, fuck you, man!

I got nothing. Oh yeah: Lance Berkman!

[johnk5150]

When did Edwin Jackson decided he was good?

[johnk5150]

I just heard Strassburg will miss the next eighteen months. Ouch.

[johnk5150]

The White Sox have claimed Manny. They now have 3 ex Dodgers in their outfield.

[makaveli]

I just heard Strassburg will miss the next eighteen months. Ouch.

Sucks. The Nats were starting to look up after a little slump. Not really a Nats fan, but Drew Storen lives in the next neighborhood over (off-season of course), so I've been following with a little bit of interest. He's a good kid. Still get to hoop with him (and G. Hayward) when they are in town.

[VanDokken]

[tin00can]

Twins get Brian Fuentes off of waivers for a PTBNL. Interesting.

[bane]

I just heard Strassburg will miss the next eighteen months. Ouch.

Who knows if he'll ever return to form either. A lot of guys never do after that Tommy John thing. Sucks for Nats fans and sucks for baseball in general. That kid was the shit.

[Frett_Bored]

I just heard Strassburg will miss the next eighteen months. Ouch.

Who knows if he'll ever return to form either. A lot of guys never do after that Tommy John thing. Sucks for Nats fans and sucks for baseball in general. That kid was the shit.

His form is most likely what caused his injury to begin with. His mechanics were rather poor. A lot of scouts were harping on him being a risk.

Injuries to pitchers happen mainly for two reasons -- overuse and bad mechanics. (He threw less than 100 innings his senior year.)

Guys like Ryan And Johnson and Gibson could pitch alot and still throw hard because they threw with good form.

[TawnyVonJagger]

I just heard Strassburg will miss the next eighteen months. Ouch.

Who knows if he'll ever return to form either. A lot of guys never do after that Tommy John thing. Sucks for Nats fans and sucks for baseball in general. That kid was the shit.

Josh Johnson had TJ, and he's doing just fine. Hell, he got better! And I suspect Strasburg will bounce back as well. Still a shitty situation, regardless.

[SkyDog112046]

I think his injury had something to do with the way he was rushed through the Nat's system. Somewhere there is data showing that a pitcher can't increase their innings by a certain amount each year while they are adjusting from high school or college to the pros. It's one of the reasons that years ago we'd see a great young pitcher come up and dominate for a season or two and then get injured and never be the same again.

Most organizations manage their pitchers with a special conditioning program that takes several years for them to transition even if the pitcher has great stuff. I know the Red Sox organization has developed quite a few quality pitchers over the past 5 years or so and this is the way that they manage their pitchers here.

I think the Nationals were desperate for a draw and rushed Strasburg. Had he been in an organization that gave him time to develop and spent time working on his mechanics before promoting him I don't think this would have happened.

[WhiteHouseSubsAC]

I think his injury had something to do with the way he was rushed through the Nat's system. Somewhere there is data showing that a pitcher can't increase their innings by a certain amount each year while they are adjusting from high school or college to the pros. It's one of the reasons that years ago we'd see a great young pitcher come up and dominate for a season or two and then get injured and never be the same again.

Most organizations manage their pitchers with a special conditioning program that takes several years for them to transition even if the pitcher has great stuff. I know the Red Sox organization has developed quite a few quality pitchers over the past 5 years or so and this is the way that they manage their pitchers here.

I think the Nationals were desperate for a draw and rushed Strasburg. Had he been in an organization that gave him time to develop and spent time working on his mechanics before promoting him I don't think this would have happened.

Or maybe it's his pitching mechanics which raised flags with a ton of people scouting him. Stick with the Lane Bryant analysis, Lickety.

[johnk5150]

I think his injury had something to do with the way he was rushed through the Nat's system. Somewhere there is data showing that a pitcher can't increase their innings by a certain amount each year while they are adjusting from high school or college to the pros. It's one of the reasons that years ago we'd see a great young pitcher come up and dominate for a season or two and then get injured and never be the same again.

Most organizations manage their pitchers with a special conditioning program that takes several years for them to transition even if the pitcher has great stuff. I know the Red Sox organization has developed quite a few quality pitchers over the past 5 years or so and this is the way that they manage their pitchers here.

I think the Nationals were desperate for a draw and rushed Strasburg. Had he been in an organization that gave him time to develop and spent time working on his mechanics before promoting him I don't think this would have happened.

Or maybe it's his pitching mechanics which raised flags with a ton of people scouting him. Stick with the Lane Bryant analysis, Lickety.

The more I learn about this arm injury in pitchers thing, the more random it seems to me. For every Prior with 'perfect' mechanics that goes down, you have a Roy Oswalt who's so small but has such a violent delivery it's a wonder he's never had problems. Same for Lincecum. Maybe it's as simple as everyone's bodies are different. How does a guy like Nolan Ryan throw that hard that many innings for that many years?

Science is weird.

[Frett_Bored]

Prior didn't have a perfect delivery -- he had the same issues with mechanics that Strasburg did.

[SkyDog112046]

Prior didn't have a perfect delivery -- he had the same issues with mechanics that Strasburg did.

Prior is a prime example of a guy who was rushed. He was drafted in 2001, threw 217 innings between AA, AA, & the big leagues in 2002, threw 234 innings (including post season) in 2003, and started breaking down in 2004. There were concerns about his delivery which were never worked on in the minors and it didn't help that Baker had him throwing 113 pitches per start only 2 years out of school. If they had held him off for another year, fixed his mechanics and worked him up gradually he probably wouldn't have broken down.

[bane]

The more I learn about this arm injury in pitchers thing, the more random it seems to me. For every Prior with 'perfect' mechanics that goes down, you have a Roy Oswalt who's so small but has such a violent delivery it's a wonder he's never had problems. Same for Lincecum. Maybe it's as simple as everyone's bodies are different. How does a guy like Nolan Ryan throw that hard that many innings for that many years?

Science is weird.

Strasburg obviously just needs to shock the fuck out of himself changing his car's battery.

[TawnyVonJagger]

Well, that's SEVEN games that the bullpen has blown for JJ. JJ should have 18 wins. 23 blown saves overall. Fuck you, 'pen!

[tin00can]

Well, that's SEVEN games that the bullpen has blown for JJ. JJ should have 18 wins. 23 blown saves overall. Fuck you, 'pen!

The Angels just finished a three-game series with the Orioles - lost all three - in which they scored ONE run total. That run was scored on a balk.

I win. My team is worse than yours!

[dtmfs]

Well, that's SEVEN games that the bullpen has blown for JJ. JJ should have 18 wins. 23 blown saves overall. Fuck you, 'pen!

WTF was that shit??, Fuck the braves, They're the luckiest cocksuckers I've ever seen, how do they pull that shit out of their asses?, Fuck I hate them fuckers and I wish their Homer ass Announcers would fucking die!!!! I can't believe these worthless fuckers are more than likley gonna make the playoffs.

[johnk5150]

Prior didn't have a perfect delivery -- he had the same issues with mechanics that Strasburg did.

Prior was "designed" by Tom House to be the perfect pitcher. It didn't work but a lot of baseball people smarter than me thought he was going to be the 'robo-starter' for years.

[TawnyVonJagger]

End. The. Season. Now. Plz. Kthx. This is no longer fun. And while the pen still deserves most of my vitriol, 3 of those runs yesterday were caused by infield errors. Gaby Sanchez, I am SO looking at you!

I don't understand why throwing errors are charged to the thrower, when the goddamn ball hits the first baseman in the goddamn glove and he muffs it! Or when he can't dig them out of the ground. I love Gaby's bat, but he sucks at 1st base.

Tinny, what the hell happened to your Angels, man?

[tin00can]

Tinny, what the hell happened to your Angels, man?

Lots of things. Matsui and Abreu got old, Rivera turned out to not be that good after all, Aybar can only get on base if he bunts (and nobody is surprised when he tries because every game he has at least two attempts), Napoli is too streaky (as is Kendrick), our bullpen kinda sucks...just a bad year. Ah well, we were due.

Also, I'm going to guarantee that Napoli is gone by the start of next year. I guess Scioscia doesn't like his work ethic. Dude is our best HR hitter (on a power-starved offense) and since the ASB he's sat in 11 of 41 games. Meanwhile, Jeff fucking Mathis, who is hitting below the Mendoza line, still sees time behind the plate and Rivera starts at 1B over Napoli. What...the...fuck.