MLB Thread

[the silent speaker]

Jeff Kent in the HOF? I want what you're smoking.

[Andrik the Unsmiling]

[quote name='the silent speaker' post='1476254' date='Aug 11 2008, 22.12']Jeff Kent in the HOF? I want what you're smoking.[/quote]

well he'll definitely merit plenty of consideration, and i'm pretty sure he'll make it. He's one of the best offensive 2b in the history of MLB. Most analysts i've heard on the subject seem to think he'll get in.

[Caliban]

[quote name='Andrik the Unsmiling' post='1476267' date='Aug 12 2008, 00.44']well he'll definitely merit plenty of consideration, and i'm pretty sure he'll make it. He's one of the best offensive 2b in the history of MLB. Most analysts i've heard on the subject seem to think he'll get in.[/quote]

Kent should get in. Hes got a better OPS+ then Sandberg, 123-114 and both have an MVP and multiple SSers. Hes also probably the best player at his position for a large year span. His only indictment is the lack of gold gloves, but that shouldnt matter but does with the voters. But hell probably get in. He was a great player.

[Arakasi]

Jeff Kent has by far the most home runs by a 2b in MLB history. He'll likely be above 2600-2700 hits by the time he retires. He has the most RBIs for a 2b. He won the MVP once. He had 9 straight seasons where he got 93+ RBI a year, and take away one year and he got over 100 RBIs in every year there. He has a .290 career batting average. Of course he is going to make the Hall of Fame.

[Nymeria Sand]

[quote]Bingo. thanks, LOB. My point was more along the lines that fans are willing to overlook a lot (in Manny's case, that means personality issues -- for all Bonds' faults, he never physically attacked a traveling secretary to my knowledge) for players on their teams and that there are plenty of players who are assholes still finding employment in baseball.[/quote]
I dunno...when he played for the Pirates there were a lot of rumors around town that he really beat his wife. He was arrested in 1993 after his wife reported that he grabbed her around the neck, threw her against their car, and kicked her while she was on the ground . And that was [b]before[/b] he supposedly started using steroids.

Having met the guy personally, I can say he's a bigger jerk than you can imagine.

But the guy is what? 44 now? Would any team really want him with all his baggage even if his age wasn't a factor?

[Week]

Manny is a child and an idiot.

Bonds is scum.

Huge difference.

[Arakasi]

He's not scum. He just has bad PR. There is a lot of very rude athletes out there. Sure he is one of them. He just never took care like many of them to try and hide what an asshole he is. (Its kind of like what I've read about Michael Jordan. The commercials show him as this swell guy, but anyone who has seen him outside that persona has shown him as a much darker guy) It's kind of the same thing as with the steroids. His attitude is nothing irregular in the sport of baseball. He's an asshole and someone who used steroids. Big deal, so is a ton of other players. And if we're talking actual bad things he did well like others said, he never physically attacked an old guy or smacked his wife around. That's got to be a plus.

Basically it really is the bad PR. At least with the other rude and opinionated athletes, even the ones that did bad things, they have tried to show a positive side of themselves to sell themselves with different amounts of success. Bonds just never tried. He was who he was and did few things to try to improve it. So he was a steroid user fairly obviously. And he was an asshole fairly obviously. And both of those fed on eachother to make people who didn't like him like him even less. But the thing is to really be scum like that he'd have to be unique. He's not, both in the substances he took or how big an asshole he is (wow, athletes living on millions of dollars and fame are dicks). Anyone thinking that really is naive both about the use of steroids in MLB or how fame affects these athletes.

[Caliban]

[quote name='Arakasi' post='1477664' date='Aug 12 2008, 22.49']He's not scum. He just has bad PR. There is a lot of very rude athletes out there. Sure he is one of them. He just never took care like many of them to try and hide what an asshole he is. (Its kind of like what I've read about Michael Jordan. The commercials show him as this swell guy, but anyone who has seen him outside that persona has shown him as a much darker guy) It's kind of the same thing as with the steroids. His attitude is nothing irregular in the sport of baseball. He's an asshole and someone who used steroids. Big deal, so is a ton of other players. And if we're talking actual bad things he did well like others said, he never physically attacked an old guy or smacked his wife around. That's got to be a plus.

Basically it really is the bad PR. At least with the other rude and opinionated athletes, even the ones that did bad things, they have tried to show a positive side of themselves to sell themselves with different amounts of success. Bonds just never tried. He was who he was and did few things to try to improve it. So he was a steroid user fairly obviously. And he was an asshole fairly obviously. And both of those fed on eachother to make people who didn't like him like him even less. But the thing is to really be scum like that he'd have to be unique. He's not, both in the substances he took or how big an asshole he is (wow, athletes living on millions of dollars and fame are dicks). Anyone thinking that really is naive both about the use of steroids in MLB or how fame affects these athletes.[/quote]

Well said. Bonds, even presteriods, was never a guy anybody rooted for. At that point he had a small child a wife, never did anything wrong, was the best player in baseball, and part of a father-son duo (which people tend to like). He was basically Ken Griffey Jr without the nickname or the publicist. Bonds was always disliked, and the only discernable reason at the time was his lack of trying at all in the popularity contest. At that point Bonds was basically what I would actually like the most, simply a great baseball player seemingly unconcerned with anything but excelling at the game.

People always hated Bonds, steroids have basically provided people with the flames to really get some heat going and also given people, like weekapaug, a nice touch of self righteousness to cook that hatred up with. So Bonds did steriods (much like countless others) and kept a girl on the side (like countless others). Does that make him more of a scum? AJ Pierzinski is apparently a huge creep with the ladies, and kicked the SFG trainer in the nuts. Surely hes the bigger scumbag. Manny is probably a bigger scumbag than Bonds also, just with less talent.

[Andrik the Unsmiling]

[quote name='Weekapaug' post='1477217' date='Aug 12 2008, 13.06']Manny is a child and an idiot.

Bonds is scum.

Huge difference.[/quote]

Really? 'cuz the biggest difference I'm seeing is spin. They're both asses. And while I know a lot of the fun of baseball is comparing players, so far as I'm aware there is no stat that measures how much of an ass you are, so let's just say I'd rather not be forced to interact with either of them.

[Arakasi]

Really the only thing unique about him was the numbers he got. Which were phenomenal before the steroids and more so after. This more than anything gave people ammunition to use against him. Steroids and yes his personality get people to dislike him, but nowhere near the hate would be given to him if he also didn't hold the all time home run record. Caliban is right, people never really liked him, even when he was clean. He's never been popular. In a way I always found him refreshing. Because at least at the end of the day I could tell he was being sincere in a business too full of insincerity and two-faced people. Shame that he was a sincere asshole, but that's who he was.

[Dinsdale!]

[i]To change the subject:[/i]

OMFG, the Mets bullpen [b]held a lead[/b]. My mind has been blown, [i]officially[/i].

[i]To change back the subject[/i]

AJ Pierzynski is the biggest asshole who actually sits in the dugout. At least by the all-important player-other-players-would-like-to-see-HPB-to-the-noggin metric.
The press have turned Barry into the son of Satan, essentially because he's a jerk to them.

The slimiest people in baseball are in the front office.
The Nationals currently fucking the city of Washington up the ass by refusing to pay rent on the facility they got for free are pretty high on that list.

Steroids saved the sport of baseball. At least that's what the revenue figures indicate.

And why is it that Steroids in baseball are the apocalypse, but nobody says nothing about the obviously roided up monsters that ply the Football gridiron?

[Caliban]

[quote name='Dinsdale!' post='1477933' date='Aug 13 2008, 08.22']And why is it that Steroids in baseball are the apocalypse, but nobody says nothing about the obviously roided up monsters that ply the Football gridiron?[/quote]

Because their isnt a HR stat in football. People are stupid.

[Caliban]

The Braves are punks anmd they suck. Throw at Soriano over and over, expect Lilly to drill you. Lilly knows how to be a pro pitcher.

[Caliban]

Cubs win another series. Also the baseball tonight crew said "dont drink and vote" after ther fsn poll power rankings had the cubs at the top. My rsponse to them is simple, fuck you.

[Caliban]

Is anybody watching this Milwaukee LADs game? Jesus Braun is an animal. Way to hold a lead LA. Chan Ho just groioved one on an 0-2 2 out count in the b 9th to one of the best sluggers in baseball. You idiot. I want the Dodgers in the NLDS so bad.

[Caliban]

That was an awesome game. Ethier being Ethier.

[Lord O' Bones]

I have nothing to add. Just that six consecutive Caliban posts would be disheartening.

Um, thank you Braves for out-sucking the Giants. Only nine more wins before I win my bet.
:leaving:

[Caliban]

Dude, did matt laporta just get rocked in the head in this China-US baeball game earlier? 3 ejections, seven hit batsmen. LaPorta I guess got plunked because of a homeplate collision. I saw a replay and it was a legit slide. A little higher then ideal bt definately a contact slide in a situation that called for one. Then Nate Schierholtz rocked the shit out of the dude that replaced the dude that laporta took out. Then China began to throw at everybody on the US team, and eventually got LaPorta in the head. Crazy that this shit happens in exhibition games too.

[Lord O' Bones]

[quote name='Caliban' post='1485383' date='Aug 18 2008, 21.08']Nate Schierholtz rocked the shit out of the dude that replaced the dude that laporta took out.[/quote]
:thumbsup: to this. :thumbsdown: to everything else.

"We do not throw to hit people." Yeah, it was an accident I'm sure. Jim Lefebvre = Douche.

[Mack Kilimaro]

[quote name='Caliban' post='1485383' date='Aug 19 2008, 00.08']Dude, did matt laporta just get rocked in the head in this China-US baeball game earlier? 3 ejections, seven hit batsmen. LaPorta I guess got plunked because of a homeplate collision. I saw a replay and it was a legit slide. A little higher then ideal bt definately a contact slide in a situation that called for one. Then Nate Schierholtz rocked the shit out of the dude that replaced the dude that laporta took out. Then China began to throw at everybody on the US team, and eventually got LaPorta in the head. Crazy that this shit happens in exhibition games too.[/quote]

Who hit who first? I should probably try to track down this game myself, especially since the USA starting pitcher was Orioles prospect Jake Arrieta, who has been the man so far. And he pitched a pretty good game from what the box score looks like.

Sounds to me like the Chinese started the shit and then realized they shouldn't have been messing with this beast. This should be a powerful allegory for them for real life too. If our fucking baseball team is going to rock their shit for messing around, just think of what happens when the big guns get whipped out.

Time for an "America! FUCK YEAH!"