Official 2011 MLB Thread - Part 1

[Alex The Great]

Hahaha

 

[LegendaryCaleb]

Rangers win it all!

 

[Spidey-Bat]

I am unbiased. Which is why I predict the Pittsburgh Pirates will not only win 100 games this season, but dominate and win the World Series.

You are delusional though.

 

[Gotham Knight]

You are delusional though.

You're right. I forgot to add that Ronny Cedeno will also win the MVP award.

 

[cyborg ninja 14]

Just finished The Extra 2%: How Wall Street strategies took a Major League Baseball team from worst to first by Jonah Keri.

Consider it Moneyball 2.0, but without creating the level of controversy that the groundbreaking book by Michael Lewis generated. Keri blends his knowledge of business and sports-writing into a seamless and easy to read analysis of the Rays' franchise from all angles starting from its beginnings through the present.

The biggest problem with Moneyball is that the perspective is very narrow-minded in terms of how the A's apparently viewed scouts in that they were useless. And some of its statistical theories seem outdated when you look at the expansion of sabremetric thinking in retrospect. The Extra 2% does not alienate the average baseball fan by integrating the Rays methods of success with new ways of thinking as well as keeping old ways. A portion focuses on a scout who persisted to the Rays that they draft Pujols. The Rays old brass held a workout at Tropicana and insisted that Albert try out catching, and like many other teams, passed on multiple opportunities to have one of the greatest hitters of all time.

It's important to note how bad the Rays original ownership was. Vince Naimoli was guilty of and not limited to

• Behaving extremely frugal with money and not allowing the team's cashflow to grow.
• Denying an elderly fan entry to the game because she wanted to bring in peanuts that helped with her diabetes. Naimoli was a stickler for banning non-concession food.
• Not taking the internet seriously and as late as 2003, the front office didn't have internet access.
• Signing a 30-year lease with Tropicana before their inagural season in '98.
• Once berated a beat writer for bringing food into the press box for fear of 'health code violations.'
• Unafraid to fire any ticket taker for allowing someone to bring in outside food to the stadium.
• His business sense was not suited for baseball and became a hated member of the Rays community.

And so on and so forth. The magic formula that started to turn the Rays around was a group of young, aspiring Wall Street savvy businessmen who began an overhaul of the organization. They made the park more fan friendly, encouraged bringing in outside food, made a greater effort in terms of marketing and retooled how the team evaluates talent.

Again to bring a comparison to Moneyball, Billy Beane lives and dies by a set principle of statistical analysis, while the Rays embraced any and all new ways of thinking without repressing one area, which Joe Maddon is receptive to.

One thing I found really weird was that the Rays hired a writer from Baseball Prospectus (they have many of those types in their front office), who was sworn to secrecy that he couldn't tell anyone who he worked for. If that's the case and it was pointed out that their owners don't like to give away certain information about their inner workings, how did this come out? lol

I would recommend taking a peek at this if you're at all interested in this worst-to-first story first and foremost. But if you want a less aggressive Moneyball that plays more to the business side as opposed to the on-field aspects of baseball, check it out.

 

[Spidey-Bat]

They didn't have internet until 2003? Surely you can't be serious.

 

[Gotham Knight]

That's more than a little embarrassing...

 

[Alex The Great]

Jesus, that's horrifying. Life without the internet is sad

 

[cyborg ninja 14]

Yep, imagine how teams did that before 1995.

 

[Alex The Great]

They lived like savages

 

[FCEEVIPER]

They didn't have internet until 2003? Surely you can't be serious.

I was there, the first site I visited was Spawn.com' really, it was.

 

[Blitzkrieg Bop]

I got the day off tomorrow and all I'm doing is watching baseball. Go Yanks.

 

[FCEEVIPER]

I got the day off tomorrow and all I'm doing is watching baseball. Go Yanks.

I got the day off as well, but the Mets open on Friday. :\

Go mets.

 

[SpideyVille]

I got the day off tomorrow and all I'm doing is watching baseball. Go Yanks.

I only have 2 classes tomorrow, but they're 3 hours long each and the first class starts right when the Yankees start.

At least I can dvr the opening ceremony and watch it later.

 

[Spidey-Bat]

Yeah, don't want to miss the ring cere....oh wait, nevermind

 

[Avengers-Report]

Almost Yanks time <3

 

[Kingfish]

Last minute predictions:

NL West: Rockies
NL Central: Reds
NL East: Braves
NL Wildcard: Phillies

AL Central: Twins
AL East: Red Sox
AL Wildcard: Rays

AL West:

A's - Best top to bottom pitching in the league and a much improved offense. This year's Rangers.
Angels - Too average to finish first or suck.
Rangers - Nolan Ryan's running his mouth too much. Sky high expectations will result in mediocrity. This year's A's.
Mariners - Yeah right.

 

[LegendaryCaleb]

ehh i just see it as motivation...he did a predicition like this last year...and we saw how that turned out...

 

[Kingfish]

He predicted that the rest of the division would underachieve and that his team would be gifted the easiest schedule in Baseball?

 

[bbf2]

Last minute predictions:

NL West: Rockies
NL Central: Reds
NL East: Braves
NL Wildcard: Phillies

AL Central: Twins
AL East: Red Sox
AL Wildcard: Rays

AL West:

A's - Best top to bottom pitching in the league and a much improved offense. This year's Rangers.
Angels - Too average to finish first or suck.
Rangers - Nolan Ryan's running his mouth too much. Sky high expectations will result in mediocrity. This year's A's.
Mariners - Yeah right.

I completely agree with your idea that the A's take the AL West this year. I think they'll be much improved and definitely win the division.

I don't agree with the Rays beating out the Yankees though, the Rays have lost a lot and I don't think they'll get anything from Damon or Ramirez. The Yankees should win the Wild Card.

 

[jacobed]

I agree on both that the A's will win the west and that the Yankees will win the wild card. Its obvious the Twins will win the world series. I know they won't win a division or anything but I think teams should definitely watch out for the Orioles this year, they were a team to be reckoned with at the end of last year and they've improved big time over the offseason.

 

[StarkvsRogers]

Happy Opening Day everyone!

Go Yankees!

 

[SpideyVille]

It's raining.

 

[Gotham Knight]

Season starts today.

 

[Poeman]

hello...lets get this party started again this year