Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Yanks, Manchester City awarded MLS expansion team
(mlb.mlb.com)
posted 20 hours ago by Gamingboy to other sports, soccer, the empire's alliances, yankees
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28 comment(s)
Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber announced today that a partnership of global sports powers, Manchester City Football Club and the New York Yankees, has acquired the League’s 20th expansion club. The new team will be named New York City Football Club (NYCFC) and expects to begin play in 2015.
Wait, I thought Manchester United was the Yankees’ fellow member of the Legion of Doom, not Manchester City!
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< 1 2The Orioles in the first half last year were lucky. In the second half, they were just downright good.
Split W-L RS RA Pct.
First half 45-40 351 387 .529
Second half 48-29 361 318 .623
They have Machado on the way, and got sustainable improvements from a lot of their players last year. I see them playing close to 55% baseball, and that's pretty damn good.
Eric Chavez: .281/.348/.496, 113 games played. Is there a bigger IF than that?
Split W-L RS RA Pct.
First half 45-40 351 387 .529
Second half 48-29 361 318 .623
They have Machado on the way, and got sustainable improvements from a lot of their players last year. I see them playing close to 55% baseball, and that's pretty damn good.
That sounds like the Orioles team that I watched scare the Yankees half to death in the second half of the season. And unlike the Yankees, they'll have all their key components back in 2013, and more likely to see those returnees improve rather than decline.
It certainly could but it's tough to succeed year to year counting on organic growth rather than bringing him help. It's not so much that I think they'll have massive declines but I don't see any place where they will improve particularly dramatically either. I can see them playing about as well as they did last year with more ordinary luck and winding up 83-79 or something of that nature.
The Nats really like what Suzuki did last year, and aren't sure about Ramos' knee, and have sent out Norris, Freitas, and Flores from the catching position in the last year or so. I think they'd be asking for a lot.
They took steps so they don't have to rely on that particular fluke happening again.
I think that's not really a strong assumption. The Orioles are younger than the Yankees, but it doesn't mean guys are going to improve. Jones took a big step forward last year, as did Markakis (at least offensively, albeit in limited time). They got a collective 2.86 ERA in almost 500 innings from Hammel, Gonzalez, Ayala, O'Day, Strop and Patten. I don't see that happening again. I'm with MCoA on the O's.
I meant "more likely" than the Yankees' returnees to improve rather than decline. The point was relative.
But if you'd like, when Matt returns to give me the details of his proposition, I'll be glad to make the same bet with you, that the Orioles will finish ahead of the Yankees. Hell, a few more wagers like this and the Yanks might wind up in the World Series.
EDIT: See below
In 2011 a young club coming off a very poor 2010 had an unexceptional start to the season (49-43) and came on like gangbusters in the second half (45-25), earning a playoff berth. They lost in the first round. The Diamondbacks regressed to the mean in 2012, winning 81 games. Something like that is the baseline expectation for the Orioles (though I have them a few wins under .500).
Yup. Usually $15 or $20, winner of the bet selects the player/page to be sponsored and the message. Work for you?
Absolutely, and if RB wants to make the same wager, I'll go with him as well. I'm a regular Good Ship Lollypop, an all-day sucker.
And since I've spent the past six weeks not believing in the Yanks, I guess that makes us even. (smile) So you're on, too, and I've bookmarked the page.
And then he comes out last week and says he's prepared to go to spring training with what he has.
Cashman has played this game before, and BBTFers fall for it every single time. As a management matter, I don't find it surprising that the organization is willing to publicly stand behind their players. We're three weeks before Valentine's day - it's always possible that this team is set, but I personally don't believe that Cashman is ready and willing to start the season with Cervelli/Stewart.
I don't see how adding another $20M+/year player makes sense for the Yankees when they're trying to hit a payroll mark below $189M for 2014. Acquiring Mauer would likely preclude signing Cano to a longterm deal.
Jeter is coming back, and while Soriano will be missed, the Yanks have this kid Rivera who could fill his role. Add Robertson, Chamberlain, Aardsma, Logan, as well as the loser of the 5th starter battle between Nova & Phelps, and that could be a pretty good bullpen. I wouldn't rule out Granderson and/or Teixeira having a good season, and Cano in his potential walk year might be highly motivated. The Blue Jays may be better, but the Yanks were 22 games better last season. The Orioles will have to prove that 2012 wasn't as flukey as it appeared, and the Rays are without James Shields. Unless you think 2012 was all Bobby V's fault, I'm not seeing how the Red Sox have improved much.
Too much credit to the opposition and way too little to the Yanks. They still have the pitching to contend in the Division.
That would be true, but only if their exclusive goal is to hit this payroll mark. Like I said, it's possible that this is true, but despite noise just like this in past years, it has never actually come to pass.
Jeter is coming back, and while Soriano will be missed, the Yanks have this kid Rivera who could fill his role. Add Robertson, Chamberlain, Aardsma, Logan, as well as the loser of the 5th starter battle between Nova & Phelps, and that could be a pretty good bullpen. I wouldn't rule out Granderson and/or Teixeira having a good season, and Cano in his potential walk year might be highly motivated. The Blue Jays may be better, but the Yanks were 22 games better last season. The Orioles will have to prove that 2012 wasn't as flukey as it appeared, and the Rays are without James Shields. Unless you think 2012 was all Bobby V's fault, I'm not seeing how the Red Sox have improved much.
Too much credit to the opposition and way too little to the Yanks. They still have the pitching to contend in the Division.
Just say the word if you want to add your $20 BB-Ref sponsorship bet to Matt's and RB's. I don't mind sponsoring another player if it means the Yanks exceed my expectations, but remember, this particular offer is only about the Yanks and the O's, not the Red Sox.
Ya I wouldn't trade Mauer for anything less than lots of prospects. It may be true that at 3 WAR he has little surplus value in his contract but if the Twins are going to spend $90M on payroll, Mauer isn't going to be their problem. Surplus value is a stupid concept anyway, at least as defined on Fangraphs. It might make sense for the Twins to pay a big chunk of Mauer's salary for very good prospects, but there's no way they should or would just dump him.
That's cool, and I hope you'll be reminding me all the way up through October.
Machado could take a big step forward. Weiters is also young/good enough to improve. We may not have seen Nolan Reimold's best season yet, either. I do agree that their pitching will seriously regress, but the offense could be gangbusters.
Also, I have to wonder how much of Baltimore's hitting success was a result of getting rid of Terry Crowley. That dude was hitting coach forever despite seeming to have no success at all and somehow overseeing almost exclusively failed transitions to the majors for nearly all of their hitting prospects.
1) He is entering his prime years.
2) He didn't have that good of a year.
3) One of the things the dudes over at USSMariner loved so much about him as a prospect was how he seemed to grow a little each season and work hard to become a better player. They felt he was constantly putting things together and had a huge future ahead of him (thus their total meltdown when he was traded to Baltimore in the first place).
STAY TUNED!
For nine or so months.
I can see anyone of them finishing first, but I can't imagine the Blue Jays finishing last. If they do, I might have to stop watching baseball. Probably because my wife will ban it if she has to listen to the swearing that will be going on in our house if the Jays lose that many games.
Tampa finishing last is probably the result that would surprise me the most - they have a lot of certainty on that roster, and they always do a great job of building cheap depth.
Yanks or Red Sox finishing first
Yanks or Red Sox making the postseason, at least in the absence of an epidemic of plane crashes
Jays not improving by 10 or more games
Rays finishing below third
Any geriatric Yankee surprising us with a great season
To put on my pedant pendant...the only free agents the Jays have signed this off-season are Melky Cabrera and Maicer Izturis as far as I can recall.
Yes, and Ricky Romero could lead the league in BBs and have the worst ERA again, and Bret Lawrie's power outage could continue, Melky could go back to being one of the worst starting LFers, and on and on. This team has a lot of question marks, but the upside is higher than most. It could very well be the most frustrating Jays season ever, just because of the expectations.
I'm just trying to stay positive....
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