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Hockeytown0001

Official 2013 MLB Thread

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I've been waiting for this thread to start. Very excited about the 2013 season.

As a refresher, here is how the Tigers line-up will likely look this Spring.

CF Jackson

RF Hunter

3B Cabrera

1B Fielder

DH Martinez

LF Dirks

RF Peralta

C Avila

2B Infante

C Pena

INF Santiago

INF/OF Worth

OF Boesch

OF Berry

UTIL Kobernus

SP Verlander

SP Scherzer

SP Fister

SP Sanchez

SP Porcello

SP Smyly

RHP Marte

RHP Villareal

LHP Downs

RHP Alburquerque

LHP Coke

RHP Benoit

RHP Dotel

RHP Rondon

A few questions marks in the roster. Can Rondon step into the closers role? Who rounds out the other bullpen slots? Who comes off the bench? Does Andy Dirks gets a platoon partner in left field?

Dangit, I love baseball.

Edited by Travis

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MLB = PED

There's no real sense in even playing the '13 season; Canadian media has the Blue Jays winning it all (even with Romero pegged as the number five starter).

The thing that boggles my mind is that he was somehow considered their ace last year. I think he's fine as a back of their rotation guy, though.

A question for Tigers fans. I just posted this on Bless You Boys, but I'm curious - do you think there is any sense in making a move for Kyle Lohse? His value has diminished immensely, and - depending on his asking price - could he be a fit? The Tigers would lose a first-rounder, but could trade then Porcello for a decent return without hurting their SP depth. Lohse is also capable of eating innings and has better K/9 and BB/9 than Porcello, albeit slightly.

Just a thought, but an interesting one. I think.

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MLB = PED

There's no real sense in even playing the '13 season; Canadian media has the Blue Jays winning it all (even with Romero pegged as the number five starter).

Can you believe I got a couple comments from Blue Jays fans about the Jays beating the Tigers yesterday? Morons! Toronto is so starved for a winning team that they celebrate practice games.

If you ask me, the bad teams win Spring Training games because there is more roster spots for players to compete for. The good teams like the Tigers, Angels, and Yankees, all the roster spots are taken, so all the players need to do is just get in shape. The Jays have 4 of the 9 starting line up spots up for grabs, LF, CF, 2B, and DH. The only guys they can guarante spots for are Bautista RF, Lawrie 3B, Reyes SS, Arencibia C, and Encarnacion 1B. Cabrera, Lind, Bonifacio, and Rasmus can be beaten out for the starting 9.

When it comes to Toronto fans and media, just watch, the Blue Jays are going to win about 86-88 games, which after last year's 73 win performance is an excellent turn around. However, Jays fans will be disappointed and as the season goes on, attendance will decrease because the local media has already given the Jays a 2013 World Championship. Expectations are way to high!

The guys the Jays got are good, but are not superstars. Yes Dickey won the Cy Young award last year, but come on, he's 38! The Mets were probably thrilled they were able to "sell high". Buehrle needs run support to be an over .500 pitcher, Johnson is injury prone, Reyes is overrated, and Cabrera's PED history is going to be a huge distraction. Add to that all the players the Jays got are switching Leagues, and as we saw from Pujols and Fielder last year, it take time to adjust. The Jays will probably play .500 Baseball for the first couple of months.

I don't think the Jays have enough hitting, and their bullpen is weak without a closer. It'll be a struggle for them to finish 3rd in the East. If Tampa continues their unexplained winning ways, the Jays will be in 4th again.

Edit: I rant, because I live in the Toronto area, and I've had to hear this crap since the trades with Miami and NY Mets.

Edited by Barrie

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Can you believe I got a couple comments from Blue Jays fans about the Jays beating the Tigers yesterday? Morons! Toronto is so starved for a winning team that they celebrate practice games.

If you ask me, the bad teams win Spring Training games because there is more roster spots for players to compete for. The good teams like the Tigers, Angels, and Yankees, all the roster spots are taken, so all the players need to do is just get in shape. The Jays have 4 of the 9 starting line up spots up for grabs, LF, CF, 2B, and DH. The only guys they can guarante spots for are Bautista RF, Lawrie 3B, Reyes SS, Arencibia C, and Encarnacion 1B. Cabrera, Lind, Bonifacio, and Rasmus can be beaten out for the starting 9.

When it comes to Toronto fans and media, just watch, the Blue Jays are going to win about 86-88 games, which after last year's 73 win performance is an excellent turn around. However, Jays fans will be disappointed and as the season goes on, attendance will decrease because the local media has already given the Jays a 2013 World Championship. Expectations are way to high!

The guys the Jays got are good, but are not superstars. Yes Dickey won the Cy Young award last year, but come on, he's 38! The Mets were probably thrilled they were able to "sell high". Buehrle needs run support to be an over .500 pitcher, Johnson is injury prone, Reyes is overrated, and Cabrera's PED history is going to be a huge distraction. Add to that all the players the Jays got are switching Leagues, and as we saw from Pujols and Fielder last year, it take time to adjust. The Jays will probably play .500 Baseball for the first couple of months.

I don't think the Jays have enough hitting, and their bullpen is weak without a closer. It'll be a struggle for them to finish 3rd in the East. If Tampa continues their unexplained winning ways, the Jays will be in 4th again.

Edit: I rant, because I live in the Toronto area, and I've had to hear this crap since the trades with Miami and NY Mets.

Cabrera will definitely be in the starting 9, as will Rasmus I'd say. I think the Jays are in a good spot this year. Orioles will regress, the Yankees keep getting bad news, and the Red Sox have added a lot of new faces, but I don't know that it they will be better than last year. The Rays are still a threat, and despite the Yankees' poor off-season, they are still the Yankees. That said, I think the Rays could easily take a wild card spot. That line-up is loaded with power and speed.

Regardless, anyone bragging about a ST win is crazy, especially when it was in the late-innings when it's farm system vs. farm system.

Merde.

Another tough loss for the Yankees. Any chance they trade for Alfonso Soriano?

Edited by Travis

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Cabrera will definitely be in the starting 9, as will Rasmus I'd say. I think the Jays are in a good spot this year. Orioles will regress, the Yankees keep getting bad news, and the Red Sox have added a lot of new faces, but I don't know that it they will be better than last year. The Rays are still a threat, and despite the Yankees' poor off-season, they are still the Yankees. That said, I think the Rays could easily take a wild card spot. That line-up is loaded with power and speed.

Regardless, anyone bragging about a ST win is crazy, especially when it was in the late-innings when it's farm system vs. farm system.

Another tough loss for the Yankees. Any chance they trade for Alfonso Soriano?

I'm wondering if the AL Wild Cards are going to come out of the Central and West? Toronto, Baltimore, TB, and Boston could finish 10 games within each other (I still think the Yankees will win the division), meaning Chicago, Oakland, and Texas may battle for the two Wild Cards. Chicago has all those games against Cleveland, Minnesota, and KC, while Oakland and Texas play against Seattle and Houston. There's no easy games in the East.

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I'm wondering if the AL Wild Cards are going to come out of the Central and West? Toronto, Baltimore, TB, and Boston could finish 10 games within each other (I still think the Yankees will win the division), meaning Chicago, Oakland, and Texas may battle for the two Wild Cards. Chicago has all those games against Cleveland, Minnesota, and KC, while Oakland and Texas play against Seattle and Houston. There's no easy games in the East.

The Rays and maybe the Red Sox are better than the White Sox. The Royals and Indians both got much better and the White Sox got worse. They never seem to quite fall off, but they lost Youkilis and Pierzynski and made no real additions. After Sale and Peavy, they don't have much in the way of starting pitching, either.

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The Rays and maybe the Red Sox are better than the White Sox. The Royals and Indians both got much better and the White Sox got worse. They never seem to quite fall off, but they lost Youkilis and Pierzynski and made no real additions. After Sale and Peavy, they don't have much in the way of starting pitching, either.

Boston is very interesting. I like the Dempster and Napoli signings, and adding them to Ellsbury, Ortiz, Pedroia, Saltalamacchia, Lester, and Buchholz, they'll be tough. And I think Ferrell is a good fit for that team.

You mentioned Tampa, Longoria is back. Going back to the Jays, they're in tough because Boston and Tamps are better, the Yankees can still win, and I like Baltimore's young pitching. That AL East will be great, there's isn't a weak team in the division.

But the Tigers, 100 wins maybe? Sanchez and Infante are here all year, VMart is back, Hunter was added, and no more Velverde

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Boston is very interesting. I like the Dempster and Napoli signings, and adding them to Ellsbury, Ortiz, Pedroia, Saltalamacchia, Lester, and Buchholz, they'll be tough. And I think Ferrell is a good fit for that team.

You mentioned Tampa, Longoria is back. Going back to the Jays, they're in tough because Boston and Tamps are better, the Yankees can still win, and I like Baltimore's young pitching. That AL East will be great, there's isn't a weak team in the division.

But the Tigers, 100 wins maybe? Sanchez and Infante are here all year, VMart is back, Hunter was added, and no more Velverde

I think the AL East will be the most interesting division in baseball this year.

If I had to guess, I would put the Tigers in the mid-90s as far as wins go. Capable of 100, sure. Especially in the Central, but I don't think it'll happen. Especially with the season-long interleague play and what that means for Martinez in the line-up.

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I would lean to 100 wins for the Tigers being slightly high as well. Somewhere around 95 seems pretty realistic. Nobody is on the Tigers level in the Central, but it should be more competitive overall as a division this season. The Indians spent money and they could be dangerous if they get some starting pitching. That's a huge if, though I think Masterson will bounce back and Trevor Bauer is a bit of a wild card. Ubaldo Jimenez is done. The Royals lineup is stacked. Again, the question with them will be if the starting pitching can put them in contention. The White Sox were flukey and just hit HR's to stay with the Tigers. I think they regress to 4th in the division and the Twins are really bad.

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http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/blog/jon-heyman/21780494/trout-aims-to-improve-near-perfect-rookie-year-by-stealing-more-bases-

More Cabrera vs. Trout talk. I'm tiki825 in the comment section informing people how historic Miggy's season was last year. 40 HR, 40 2B, and 200 Hits in the same season has only been done by two other players in the history of Baseball, Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. Plus he won the first Triple Crown since 1967.

Cabrera's 2012 season put him in the company of Ruth, Gehrig, Yaz, Mantle, and Ted Williams, the legends of the game, and it seems like the majority of Baseball fans are unaware of that.

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Ok more ranting from me (I don't like to rant of facebook, so I come here! Luck you :lol:)...

Being Canadian, I don't know if the media in this country is stupid, or if the Government tells them to push Canadian Propaganda. I've been getting the Sportsnet Magazine since Octobe 2011. It's a Canadian version of Sports Illustrated, it's only $28 for the year. Anyway the Baseball Preview came. As you can see from my posts about CBC's embarrassing hockey coverage, I think Sports Coverage in this country is a joke. These picks reek of Canadian bias:

1) Jays will win 93 games

2) Jays will win the AL East, Baltimore will finish 5th

3) They compare Reyes, Cabrera, Bautista, and Encarnacion to White, Alomar, Molitor, Carter, and Olerud.

4) Joe Girardi will be the first AL Manager fired

5) Jose Bautista will win the AL HR title

6) Joey Voto will win the NL HR title and the NL MVP Award

Again I don't know if they're stupid or the Canadian Government tells them to do stuff like this.

My take:

1 + 2) So they Jays will improve 20 games while Baltimore will be 20-25 worse? Have you seen the O's pitching staff? I still wouldn't count out the Yankees, and the Rays will win their usual 90 games.

3) Yeah right, that's an insult to your 1992 and 1993 teams.

4) So after a World Series Championship in 2009 and all those 90 win seasons IF the Yankees struggle, they'll get rid of Girardi by May or June? That doesn't make any sense.

5) Yes Bautista has a decent shot, but he's coming off a wrist injury, plus he's probably on the decline.

6) Voto (born in Toronto) hit 14 HRs last year, and he has only hit more than 30 once. How is Voto going to win the NL HR Title? Did he take PED's over the winter or something?

I expect more from "so called" experts, instead of more Canadian crap from the media. My subscription is up in October, but after this I'm not renewing for next year.

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Surprising move, but there must simply not have been a trade market for him any longer. Seemed obvious that he'd be elsewhere this year, despite re-tooling his swing, but his atrocious defense and poor history did him in.

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I definitely won't miss Boesch. Outside of a handful of sizzling hot months at the plate, he has been a pretty bad baseball player. 2nd worst WAR in the entire American League last season. Pathetic defense and can't seem to make adjustments with his swing when he goes cold. I also didn't like the vibe he gave off last year when things weren't going well and Leyland more or less said Boesch wasn't willing to listen to the coaching staff. I guess that's how you go from starting RF to left off the playoff roster in favor of a career minor leaguer and prospect with AA experience.

As for the Tigers remaining, my guess is that Kobernus definitely makes the team. Hopefully he can fill the platoon role with Dirks in LF and be able to hit left-handed pitching. Don't really care if they go with Berry or Kelly for the other spot. Neither can hit worth a damn. Berry's speed is less valuable with Kobernus and I think Kelly plays better defense. My preference would be Danny Worth over Santiago, though I don't see that happening. Worth is far superior with the glove and could probably hit just as well in that backup infielder spot if given the chance.

Edited by GoWings1905

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