MLB 2015 Regular Season

[JBDuke]

Hot Stove Season is officially over, and Spring Training is underway, so I thought it was time to start up a new thread. And I think the Nats' Danny Espinosa wins the award for best Spring Training facial hair...

http://deadspin.com/lets-appreciate-...che-1688884288

[weezie]

Nice and fresh in here. I think the Nats will def make a run for the "Way Too Much Hair, Facial and Dome" Cup this year.
They are out a-head of the rest already. Don't forget Jason Werth.

[Blue in the Face]

Yankee backup outfielder Chris Young didn't quite hit the ground running:

@BrendanKutyNJ - Chris Young just struck out against the pitching machine.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-bi...223027998.html

[weezie]

^^^ Lol, that's a funny, funny post.

That's why I like to fire up our basement pitching machine every few days just to keep the rust off the old swing.

[Olympic Fan]

I don't see why anybody should be excited about this season. The title has already been decided.

The Washington Nats are a lock to be the 2015 World Champs ... at least according to Bryce Harper, who has proclaimed: "How can we lose" and "Where's my ring?"

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...w-can-we-lose/

[Blue in the Face]

Tough times for young-ish pitchers. Rangers star Yu Darvish has a torn ligament in his elbow and may need Tommy John surgery. And Toronto's Marcus Stroman, who was impressive as a rookie last year, is out for the year with a torn ACL.

[devildeac]

Have the Braves been eliminated from playoff contention yet?

[JBDuke]

Tough times for young-ish pitchers. Rangers star Yu Darvish has a torn ligament in his elbow and may need Tommy John surgery. And Toronto's Marcus Stroman, who was impressive as a rookie last year, is out for the year with a torn ACL.

Stroman is a Duke alum. Sad to see this, as he was fun to watch. Not too many 5-9 guys on major league pitching mounds!

More pitching bad news: Cliff Lee may be done. The Phillies prospects just got even worse. Yikes.

[Blue in the Face]

Tough times for young-ish pitchers. Rangers star Yu Darvish has a torn ligament in his elbow and may need Tommy John surgery. And Toronto's Marcus Stroman, who was impressive as a rookie last year, is out for the year with a torn ACL.

The Mets' Zack Wheeler joins the club, and is likely heading for tjs as well.

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/ba...icle-1.2150762

[FerryFor50]

The Mets' Zack Wheeler joins the club, and is likely heading for tjs as well.

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/ba...icle-1.2150762

Jeez. We get Matt Harvey back and now we lose Zack Wheeler???

Next thing you'll tell me is we have Michael Cuddyer playing first base. :facepalm:

[duke74]

Jeez. We get Matt Harvey back and now we lose Zack Wheeler???

Next thing you'll tell me is we have Michael Cuddyer playing first base. :facepalm:

And Josh Edgen...only lefty from the BP. (Sandy's gamble so far this offseason.) The non-Gee and Colon deals are looking good now.

(I didn't think the Wheeler TJS was a certainty yet, but may have missed it this AM.)

[duke74]

And Josh Edgen...only lefty from the BP. (Sandy's gamble so far this offseason.) The non-Gee and Colon deals are looking good now.

(I didn't think the Wheeler TJS was a certainty yet, but may have missed it this AM.)

Wheeler's gone for the year. Drat.

[moonpie23]

nice...carol jewelry...

[YmoBeThere]

When to the HEB Big League Weekend here in San Antonio. This year's opponent was an LA Dodgers split squad facing the Texas Rangers split squad. The event is played in the Alamodome which makes the field dimensions odd. Left field line is 275 feet from home. First batter of the game pushed one over the LF fence. Adrian Gonzalez hit two line drive home runs over that same LF fence. One was legit, I think the first of the two might have been a line drive out but didn't get a good look at it. Greinke looked okay, 4 IP, 2H, 0ER, 1 BB and 6Ks. Juan Nicasio threw two perfect innings and got into a verbal exchange with Rougned Odor of the Rangers. Not sure over what... I left when the score was 6-0 Dodgers, looks like it will finish up 10-3.

I think the two Texas teams will continue to bring up the rear in the AL West.

[Olympic Fan]

Awesome film re-enactment by a bunch of Yankees at spring training today. Let by Brett Gardner, a bunch of Yankees re-enacted a scene from The Sandlot:

http://espn.go.com/blog/spring-train...-sandlot-scene

Just in case you never saw it, this article includes the original film clip:

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/ba...icle-1.2160978

[Blue in the Face]

Not really spring training, but I liked this story. Some A's ticket holders were unhappy with the team's having a LGBT Pride night, so pitcher Sean Doolittle and his girlfriend have offered to buy the tickets of anyone who doesn't want to go to the game.

So, A’s fans; if attending a baseball game on LGBT Pride Night makes you at all uncomfortable, it is probably a good idea to sell your tickets. And I have the perfect buyer. ME!

If you’d like to sell your tickets to June 17th’s LGBT Pride Night game, I will buy them from you at face value. As many as I can. No judgments. No questions asked. From there, I will donate any tickets I purchase to the Bay Area Youth Center’s Our Space community for LGBTQ youth.

http://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2015...-night-tickets

[YmoBeThere]

A very cool thing to do. Hopefully he'll get some help from some of his teammates.

[kmspeaks]

http://fantasynews.cbssports.com/fan...on-from-braves
via http://cbssportsapp.com

Not sure this belongs here but I don't think we have a thread for the season yet and wanted to share with my fellow Braves fans.

[Olympic Fan]

http://fantasynews.cbssports.com/fan...on-from-braves
via http://cbssportsapp.com

Not sure this belongs here but I don't think we have a thread for the season yet and wanted to share with my fellow Braves fans.

I'm happy with this -- Kimbrell is the best closer in baseball, but a great closer is a needless bauble for a team that's not going to contend. It makes sense to trade him now and get great value for him.

Part of that value was getting the Padres to take BJ "Melvin" Upton, a terrible player with a huge contract (not clear if the Braves are paying part of his contract).

Not sure I agree with the drastic retooling the Braves have done this offseason, but if you're going to do it, this trade was the right move. I haven't checked out the two prospects Atlanta got in the deal (the two Major League guys are fairly mediocre), but I know ESPN has promoted Atlanta's farm system from 25th in baseball to No. 5 based on the prospects they had already accumulated this offseason.

No question that this year will be a disaster, but there is hope for a few years down the road.

[Olympic Fan]

Okay, I did some checking on the two kids that Atlanta picked up in today's deal.

Wisler is the prize ... he's a 22-year-old righthander with some awesome bb/inn and SO/inning rates. He was rated the No. 2 prospect in the entire Padres system and he's almost ready for the Majors -- he dominated AA last year and pitched well in AAA.

Paroubeck is promising, but not at that level. He's a 20-year-old outfielder who played well in the rookie league last year. More a speed guy than a power guy. But it will be a couple of years before we know if he's an A prospect of not.

Plus, they got the No. 41 pick in the draft -- essentially early second round.

I noticed that Atlanta has pretty much decimated San Diego's farm system this offseason. Since December, Atlanta has picked up four of the Padres top 10 prospects:

No. 2 Matt Wisler (RHP)
No. 7 Max Friel (LHP)
No. 8 Mallex Smoh (OF)
No. 9 Jace Peterson (SS)