*** OFFICIAL 2011 MLB Season Thread ***

[SP33Demon]

lol. people want a reason to hate Jeter, and now they have one. Don't worry, he'll give you another reason to hate him this October, when he wins his sixth ring.

Haters gonna hate. 😀

So Gehrig or the Babe would have skipped the All Star Game if they were to be honored as the only Yankee with 3K hits? GTFOOH. I was rooting for Jeter to get to 3K but f him if he can't even show up to tip his cap for the millions of fans who voted for him. He should be ashamed of himself. Hell, if one of the greatest Yankee managers of all time (Torre) can't convince you to show up for 10 minutes then you're just a lost cause.

 

[drebo]

The All Star game has been a farce the last couple years now. I don't blame Jeter for not wanting to go, and I don't blame Girardi for making sure CC can't go.

It's not about the best players, it's about the most popular. Cano is NOT the best second baseman in the AL. Not by a long shot.

How can you call something an "all star" game when you're just running out the same guys every year in a dismal display of narcissism?

Honestly, I respect Jeter MORE for choosing not to be a part of it.

 

[Blackjack200]

So Gehrig or the Babe would have skipped the All Star Game if they were to be honored as the only Yankee with 3K hits? GTFOOH. I was rooting for Jeter to get to 3K but f him if he can't even show up to tip his cap for the millions of fans who voted for him. He should be ashamed of himself. Hell, if one of the greatest Yankee managers of all time (Torre) can't convince you to show up for 10 minutes then you're just a lost cause.

I guess we'll never know since they didn't get 3,000 hits. 😀

I have news for you - the vast majority of sports stars are complete d-bags. I figured that out when I was like 10. Heck, if I made $20 million a year and banged supermodels all year long, I probably would be too.

 

[SP33Demon]

The All Star game has been a farce the last couple years now. I don't blame Jeter for not wanting to go, and I don't blame Girardi for making sure CC can't go.

It's not about the best players, it's about the most popular. Cano is NOT the best second baseman in the AL. Not by a long shot.

How can you call something an "all star" game when you're just running out the same guys every year in a dismal display of narcissism?

Honestly, I respect Jeter MORE for choosing not to be a part of it.

^^Prime example of NYY homerism. Who gives a fck about Cano? The fans voted for him and he showed up, and I guarantee anyone not named Derek Jeter would have at least tipped his cap to the fans who voted for him to be there for his 3,000 hit ceremony. Do you think Cal Ripken would have skipped a celebration in his honor? Babe Ruth? Gehrig? Mantle? Joltin Joe? The answer is no.

You can downplay that the All Star game is a "joke" but that just means you're not a real baseball fan and have no sense of history and historic events. I find it funny that kids will be disappointed to see their favorite player not show up. Sorry kid, we just paid $500 for these tickets and Jeter won't be here. Why? He needed 3 personal days. /snicker

 

[Blackjack200]

lol, come on. I realized the ASG was a joke when I was a kid. It's stupid. Meaningful baseball is played in September and October. Not July.

Edit: And if Jeter had showed up all we'd hear about is the terrible season he's having and how he doesn't deserve to be there. So either way it was going to be a nice few days to rip on Derek Jeter.

 

[SP33Demon]

I guess we'll never know since they didn't get 3,000 hits. 😀

I have news for you - the vast majority of sports stars are complete d-bags. I figured that out when I was like 10. Heck, if I made $20 million a year and banged supermodels all year long, I probably would be too.

Babe Ruth's worst season OPS+ was still higher than Jeter's career average. Gehrig too.. Let's not act like Jeter's 86 OPS+ is anything special, he's not even a top 5 shortstop in his own league (ranked 15th in wOBA, 8th in the AL). He's a -1.0 in fielding and -1.3 in baserunning (fangraphs).

NY re-signed him out of respect of what he's done in the past, let's not act like he even deserved to be a 2011 fifth string All Star.

I disagree with you, had he showed up everyone would have forgotten about his crappy season and paid homage to a Yankee great. Now he's got egg on his face.

 

[Blackjack200]

Babe Ruth's worst season OPS+ was still higher than Jeter's career average. Gehrig too.. Let's not act like Jeter's 86 OPS+ is anything special, he's not even a top 5 shortstop in his own league (ranked 15th in wOBA, 8th in the AL). He's a -1.0 in fielding and -1.3 in baserunning (fangraphs).

lol. Ruth routinely batted .370+ and came close to .400 a couple of times. That era of baseball is over. I could be wrong, but I don't think anyone has really challenged for .400 since Ted Williams did it. Jeter has been consistent and productive for 15 years. 3,500 hits is not out of the question for him. If he hadn't gotten hurt I think 4,000 could have been a possibility.

NY re-signed him out of respect of what he's done in the past, let's not act like he even deserved to be a 2011 fifth string All Star.

Who's saying that? Or are you just taking an opportunistic shot at a player you loathe?

I disagree with you, had he showed up everyone would have forgotten about his crappy season and paid homage to a Yankee great. Now he's got egg on his face.

I'm pretty sure he cares. I'm also pretty sure he'd rather spend his all-star break jetting out to game he's not going to play in and doing a ceremony than kicking back at Martha's Vineard with Miss November feeding him grapes.

 

[BeauJangles]

lol. people want a reason to hate Jeter, and now they have one. Don't worry, he'll give you another reason to hate him this October, when he wins his sixth ring.

Haters gonna hate. 😀

I don't hate Jeter. In fact, I don't think most people hate Jeter. He's one of the 10 greatest Yankees of all time. He's a player that, 50 years from now, I'm going to be telling my kids about. He's a legend.

That being said, his deficiencies on the field are well documented. The "hate" around Jeter is mostly directed at those who dedicate pages and pages to him gushing over how fantastic he is. They forget that he's human, that he isn't that greatest Yankee ever, and he has legitimate flaws in his game.

That's what most people "hate" about Jeter. That and his former ability to get big hits at critical moments in games.

If Jeter does win another ring this year, I think we can all agree it's going to have much less to do with him than ever before.

You can downplay that the All Star game is a "joke" but that just means you're not a real baseball fan and have no sense of history and historic events. I find it funny that kids will be disappointed to see their favorite player not show up. Sorry kid, we just paid $500 for these tickets and Jeter won't be here. Why? He needed 3 personal days. /snicker

This.

Jeter should have been there for the fans, for MLB, and for himself.

For MLB, they desperately wanted to make his 3,000 hits a huge celebration because he's one of the few "clean" superstars left. It would have been nice to see a big celebration where there is no PED-related elephant sitting in the room.

For the fans, this is probably the last time they'll see Jeter at an ASG.

For him, these next few years are the end of his career. This season is the end of any claim to legitimacy for using him as a starting SS in MLB. I thought he would want to take it all in one last time.

 

[Blackjack200]

I don't hate Jeter. In fact, I don't think most people hate Jeter. He's one of the 10 greatest Yankees of all time. He's a player that, 50 years from now, I'm going to be telling my kids about. He's a legend.

That being said, his deficiencies on the field are well documented. The "hate" around Jeter is mostly directed at those who dedicate pages and pages to him gushing over how fantastic he is. They forget that he's human, that he isn't that greatest Yankee ever, and he has legitimate flaws in his game.

That's what most people "hate" about Jeter. That and his former ability to get big hits at critical moments in games.

If Jeter does win another ring this year, I think we can all agree it's going to have much less to do with him than ever before.

Oh, I agree that most fans don't hate him, though there are some that definitely do (probably for some of the reasons you alluded to).

This.

Jeter should have been there for the fans, for MLB, and for himself.

For MLB, they desperately wanted to make his 3,000 hits a huge celebration because he's one of the few "clean" superstars left. It would have been nice to see a big celebration where there is no PED-related elephant sitting in the room.

For the fans, this is probably the last time they'll see Jeter at an ASG.

For him, these next few years are the end of his career. This season is the end of any claim to legitimacy for using him as a starting SS in MLB. I thought he would want to take it all in one last time.

I just don't think he cares anymore. Again, most sports stars are d-bags. And I don't think there's any claim of legitimacy for him as an All Star this year.

 

[SP33Demon]

I just don't think he cares anymore. Again, most sports stars are d-bags. And I don't think there's any claim of legitimacy for him as an All Star this year.

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/b...ith_girlfriend_minka_kelly_in_miami_over.html

Yankees superstar Derek Jeter apparently chose downtime with some major league beauties over an appearance at the All-Star Game festivities in Phoenix.

The hero hitter was snapped strolling down a Miami street with his gorgeous girlfriend Minka Kelly on Monday, not far from where the 31-year-old actress is shooting the new "Charlie's Angels" TV series.

The smiling couple had lunch in swanky South Beach along with soap opera stunner Annie Ilonzeh, 27, one of Kelly's "Angels" costars, according to RadarOnline.com.

Jeter said last week that he planned to skip the Midsummer Classic to rest the strained right calf that recently kept him sidelined for nearly three weeks.

"We thought it'd be best not to try to push it, because it's most important to try to be ready for the second half. That's what my focus has to be on," he told reporters.

The decision to skip the game entirely has miffed some baseball officials and players.

One official said Jeter, 37, didn't have to risk injury with game play. The Yankees' captain could have appeared on the field to tip his cap to the fans who voted him onto the All-Star team and then left, the official said.

Hmm, lunch with his g/f or tip his cap to his millions of fans who spent buku bucks/voted to see him at the AS Game. He actually could have done both: Miami-->AZ on a private jet would take what, 3 hours? I could understand if he was actually married to this woman and had family to attend to but... /agree with Blackjack, douchebag is a good term.

Jayson Stark was right on the money on the Doug Gottlieb show this morning.

 

[Perknose]

Jeter? He's had a fine career, for which he is now being overpaid. I don't begrudge him that. 3,000 hits is a stellar career accomplishment. New York media pro athletes have always been disproportionately hyped, it goes with the territory of playing in the biggest US media market.

Jeter's last gold glove was a bad joke, though. It almost rank up there with the one Bobby Abreu won while a wretchedly lazy outfielder with the Phils, and even surpasses the one Joe Torre won as a great his, so-so field catcher with the Braves way back when.

We in Philly have always been butthurt by being in the media shadow of mighty New Yawk. Hell, even though the Phils were the first pro team in any sport to 10,000 losses, we couldn't even gain the reverse respect of being colorful/lovable/noble losers -- that went first, to the Cubbies, then to the original Mets, and then to Boston. The Phils couldn't even win at the losing game!

But, hey, now that "we're" (at least temporarily) overdogs, I just can't work up sufficient outrage at Jeter, the Yanks, the Sawx, or any other team or city whatsoever. <shrug>

Finally, I'm not a huge fan of the All-Star game. Want to shorten the season? There's one quick way! 😉

 

[sjwaste]

For anyone defending Jeter, just keep in mind that Victorino got in on the fan vote. He made a video for the fans saying he was sorry he couldn't go because he got hurt, thanks for the effort, etc. And when they introduced the lineups tonight, Shane Victorino was in line with the rest of the Phillies to at least tip his hat to the crowd.

Jeter doesn't actually deserve to be an all star for his performance on the field this year, 3000 hits or not, but the fact that his fans elected him anyway says a lot about their support for him. If I were a Jeter fan before, I'm not sure I would remain one (but I never was).

I'm sure for his "effort" here, they'll give him another Gold Glove at the end of the season too.

 

[anxi80]

Thanks a lot Cardinals for taking us right out of that inning. 😉

 

[raystorm]

Frankie Rodriguez was just traded to the Brewers (plus cash) for two "players to be named later". I guess Bobby Parnell or Isringhausen (LOL) will close for the Mets.

 

[rcpratt]

I wasn't giving it my full attention, but that had to have been the most boring ASG ever.

 

[ViRGE]

I wasn't giving it my full attention, but that had to have been the most boring ASG ever.

I don't regularly watch it, but I swear they didn't cut to commercials nearly as often in previous years. It felt like there were more minutes of commercials than gameplay by the end.

 

[rockyct]

lol. Ruth routinely batted .370+ and came close to .400 a couple of times. That era of baseball is over. I could be wrong, but I don't think anyone has really challenged for .400 since Ted Williams did it. Jeter has been consistent and productive for 15 years. 3,500 hits is not out of the question for him. If he hadn't gotten hurt I think 4,000 could have been a possibility.



Who's saying that? Or are you just taking an opportunistic shot at a player you loathe?



I'm pretty sure he cares. I'm also pretty sure he'd rather spend his all-star break jetting out to game he's not going to play in and doing a ceremony than kicking back at Martha's Vineard with Miss November feeding him grapes.

Tony Gwynn got really close in 1994 when he hit .394. If it hadn't been a strike shortened season, he may have actually done it.

Oh, and welcome everyone to Adrian Gonzalez. He was hiding in San Diego the past few years, but he's not a secret anymore. After seeing how Tony Gwynn got mistreated during his whole carrer San Diego, I'm actually happy for him. He deserves to be on a team that has at least some offense around him.

 

[rcpratt]

Tony Gwynn got really close in 1994 when he hit .394. If it hadn't been a strike shortened season, he may have actually done it.

Oh, and welcome everyone to Adrian Gonzalez. He was hiding in San Diego the past few years, but he's not a secret anymore. After seeing how Tony Gwynn got mistreated during his whole carrer San Diego, I'm actually happy for him. He deserves to be on a team that has at least some offense around him.

He's great. The MVP talk for him over Bautista is ridiculous though, and they hardly even mention Bautista half the time. Average and RBIs, omg omg omg.

 

[BeauJangles]

He's great. The MVP talk for him over Bautista is ridiculous though, and they hardly even mention Bautista half the time. Average and RBIs, omg omg omg.

Yeah Gonzalez has been unbelievable this year, but he can't touch what Bautista has been doing in Toronto.

 

[SP33Demon]

He's great. The MVP talk for him over Bautista is ridiculous though, and they hardly even mention Bautista half the time. Average and RBIs, omg omg omg.

Actually, batting average is very important and you could make an argument for Gonzo as MVP over Bautista off of it alone. Here's why: Runners in Scoring Position - Gonzo gets better at .375 vs Bautista getting way worse at .242 (yes, over 130 points higher!). This is in 131 PA vs 101 PA (statistically significant). Simply put, Gonzalez = more clutch which is one of the reasons why he has more RBI's despite having 14 less HRs.

In a tight game like the playoffs, 1 run makes all the difference and I'd take Gonzalez over Bautista in a heartbeat when all you need is a hit to get the runner in. Overall, sure Bautista's homers will put him ahead in most offensive categories (ISO/SLG) but batting average is still important with men on.

 

[rcpratt]

Insert generic small sample size comment here. 100 AB is not nearly enough for AVG to stabilize. Also, Bautista only has 66 RISP AB (102 PA, though).

And I'm not going to argue too much on the idiocy of using RISP to evaluate the MVP, but it's worth noting that Bautista's RISP OPS is .995 and Gonzalez's is .968.

OPS - 1.170 vs. 1.005. WAR - 6.6 vs. 4.8. wOBA - .487 vs. .429. While both players' BABIPs are above their career norms, Gonzalez's is more so.

Oops, I forgot the most important stat - Toronto vs. Boston.

 

[SP33Demon]

Insert generic small sample size comment here. 100 AB is not nearly enough for AVG to stabilize. Also, Bautista only has 66 RISP AB (102 PA, though).

And I'm not going to argue too much on the idiocy of using RISP to evaluate the MVP, but it's worth noting that Bautista's RISP OPS is .995 and Gonzalez's is .968.

OPS - 1.170 vs. 1.005. WAR - 6.6 vs. 4.8. wOBA - .487 vs. .429. While both players' BABIPs are above their career norms, Gonzalez's is more so.

Oops, I forgot the most important stat - Toronto vs. Boston.

102 PA is statistically significant. Bautista walks more w/ RISP (hence the higher OPS) but he's not paid to walk (only 13 were intentional), he's paid to drive in runs. When he decides to actually swing, he's batting .242. Gonzo has been monumentally better.

We'll see how the season plays out but don't expect much to change, Gonzalez's career RISP batting average (1067 PA) is .320/990 OPS. Not even going to post Bautista's because it's embarrassing. For example, in 2010 (his best year) Bautista batted .246 in 167 PA with RISP. Whoopde-fcking-do. He's not clutch and never will be, I'll take Gonzo any day of the week against playoff pitching. You can try to downplay it all you want, but timely hitting is what wins in the playoffs. Just ask San Francisco.

 

[BeauJangles]

Insert generic small sample size comment here. 100 AB is not nearly enough for AVG to stabilize. Also, Bautista only has 66 RISP AB (102 PA, though).

And I'm not going to argue too much on the idiocy of using RISP to evaluate the MVP, but it's worth noting that Bautista's RISP OPS is .995 and Gonzalez's is .968.

This.

OPS - 1.170 vs. 1.005. WAR - 6.6 vs. 4.8. wOBA - .487 vs. .429. While both players' BABIPs are above their career norms, Gonzalez's is more so.

Oops, I forgot the most important stat - Toronto vs. Boston.

Both of them are going to hold on to their gains (relatively). Bautista isn't the same hitter he was two years ago and Gonzalez is now surrounded by a real major league offense.

Bautista deserves the MVP like nobody's business this year, assuming he doesn't somehow fall off a cliff.

 

[rcpratt]

Now we're going to compare careers for the MVP, apparently. Obviously Bautista's career changed drastically last year.

 

[SP33Demon]

This.



Both of them are going to hold on to their gains (relatively). Bautista isn't the same hitter he was two years ago and Gonzalez is now surrounded by a real major league offense.

Bautista deserves the MVP like nobody's business this year, assuming he doesn't somehow fall off a cliff.

See my response. All this dckriding for Bautista when he can't even get a runner in more than 1/4 of the time. Hell I'd take Jeter (.301) over him in the playoffs when the game's on the line. You cannot teach clutch.