MLB is back

[Smitty]

Hope this ESPN strike zone box isn't permanent all game.

[Dawg61]

Hope this ESPN strike zone box isn't permanent all game.

It is. I like it.

[Dawg61]

Embarrassing trade offer you sent me btw. Do better.

[Smitty]

Embarrassing trade offer you sent me btw. Do better.

In context now of the Kimbrel trade it is. Why I pulled it. When offered Benoit was a closer.

[shoeless joe]

Hope this ESPN strike zone box isn't permanent all game.

Agree...it's like the in-game interview. Pointless and takes away from the watching experience. Also, schilling is annoying.

[Smitty]

Agree...it's like the in-game interview. Pointless and takes away from the watching experience. Also, schilling is annoying.

The different color throws me off. If it was just the box, maybe but it's brighter inside than outside.

[Dawg61]

In context now of the Kimbrel trade it is. Why I pulled it. When offered Benoit was a closer.

Nope it was terrible before the trade. I drafted Scherzer after you already drafted Rizzo and Altuve and I wouldn't trade you him for either of them. Scherzer is off the table.

[msstate7]

I'm glad the Braves don't still have that chump, jhey** I really hope I don't see jhey go get off like this all year. Hopefully the cards hire Greg walker as hitting coach haha

[Smitty]

Corey Kluber's agent did a horrible job..

5 YR just 38 million for one of the best arms in the game.

[shoeless joe]

I'm glad the Braves don't still have that chump, jhey** I really hope I don't see jhey go get off like this all year. Hopefully the cards hire Greg walker as hitting coach haha

Did you notice all the swing and approach changes he's made? Things that have been talked about with him in the past but he has refused to address...then all of a sudden when his hometown team ships him off he decides he better do what It takes to be successful.

Look, 4-5 yrs ago I was the biggest JHey fan there was, but just like with francouer...although on a much smaller scale...he wouldn't take the coaching he needed and therefore never met potential offensively. Guys who refuse to be coached are typically not chemistry glue guys. I got scoffed at when I've said it in the past but he was traded for a reason other than his impending contract.

[msstate7]

Did you notice all the swing and approach changes he's made? Things that have been talked about with him in the past but he has refused to address...then all of a sudden when his hometown team ships him off he decides he better do what It takes to be successful.

Look, 4-5 yrs ago I was the biggest JHey fan there was, but just like with francouer...although on a much smaller scale...he wouldn't take the coaching he needed and therefore never met potential offensively. Guys who refuse to be coached are typically not chemistry glue guys. I got scoffed at when I've said it in the past but he was traded for a reason other than his impending contract.

I still like the jhey trade. I was playing bc he's having such a good night. I think miller and Jenkins are gonna be studs for us. Might be wishful thinking, but I do

[ShotgunDawg]

Corey Kluber's agent did a horrible job..

5 YR just 38 million for one of the best arms in the game.

Not really.

Kluber wasn't a free agent. All the Indians were doing were buying out his arbitration years + 1 year of free agency.

What the Indians got out of this is cost certainty for the next 5 years & Kluber got a guaranteed contract + escalators.

This deal will pay Kluber 38.5 mil over the next 5 years.

Thing is, Kluber wasn't schedule to be arbitration eligible until 2016, meaning that he was slated to make the league minimum this season.

I have not seen the year to year payout yet, but I would guess the contract will give him a raise this year & progressively give him raises that likely matchup with what he would have made in arbitration with a slight discount for the Indians, due to them taking on all the risk with the contract, in exchange for Kluber giving up 1 year of free agency & offering the Indians the cost certainty that allows to more accurately project their payroll & build their team for upcoming seasons.

This is a new trend in baseball. Arbitration can be unpredictable when looking 3 years in advance & teams HATE going to arbitration with young stars because the process pits one side against the other and the team doesn't want to bad mouth one of it's best players that it may want to sign to a long term free agent contract down the line. Due to this, teams like to just come to an early compromise with the player in order to avoid this process.

[dawgs]

Corey Kluber's agent did a horrible job..

5 YR just 38 million for one of the best arms in the game.

Don't understand baseball CBA, do you?

[dawgs]

Did you notice all the swing and approach changes he's made? Things that have been talked about with him in the past but he has refused to address...then all of a sudden when his hometown team ships him off he decides he better do what It takes to be successful.

Look, 4-5 yrs ago I was the biggest JHey fan there was, but just like with francouer...although on a much smaller scale...he wouldn't take the coaching he needed and therefore never met potential offensively. Guys who refuse to be coached are typically not chemistry glue guys. I got scoffed at when I've said it in the past but he was traded for a reason other than his impending contract.

I feel like the problem is with the Braves' approach and coaching at the plate.

[shoeless joe]

I feel like the problem is with the Braves' approach and coaching at the plate.

Not saying you are completely wrong, but in heyward's case you are. I remember hearing rumblings about his swing mechanics as far back as 2011-2012.

[Smitty]

Don't understand baseball CBA, do you?

No I get it, but he's still getting underpaid. Kluber is about to turn 29 in a few days meaning his next chance at a massive payday is at 34 years old now. Eh... I did read up that he could possibly get 77 mil depending on his cy young finish so that's better for him but the Indians are going to have a great arm on the cheap.

[BoomBoom]

Not saying you are completely wrong, but in heyward's case you are. I remember hearing rumblings about his swing mechanics as far back as 2011-2012.

Well, back in his rookie year Bobby told him he was taking too many walks and not trying enough to hit for power. he's never been as good a hitter as he was before that.

[dawgs]

No I get it, but he's still getting underpaid. Kluber is about to turn 29 in a few days meaning his next chance at a massive payday is at 34 years old now. Eh... I did read up that he could possibly get 77 mil depending on his cy young finish so that's better for him but the Indians are going to have a great arm on the cheap.

Well yeah he's not getting free agent dollars because he doesn't qualify for free agency anytime soon. He was a late bloomer. Sucks for him, but that's how it goes. He has no real leverage to demand scherzer money, or anything close to that, because ultimately he's stuck with the Indians and if he goes to arbitration, he needs to continue to pitch well.

[shoeless joe]

Well, back in his rookie year Bobby told him he was taking too many walks and not trying enough to hit for power. he's never been as good a hitter as he was before that.

Yeah, that's not even remotely close to what I'm talking about.

He dives into pitches but doesn't clear his hips, which basically locks the hitter up and even if they do catch up to it they will have no lower body to provide power. Add to that the fact that he had gotten to where he held his hands away from his body, something he didn't do early on, and it becomes really difficult to extend thru contact because you can't keep your hands inside the ball. Poor extension thru contact+hips locked up= No power. The adjustments i saw him make last nite were almost 100% what he needed to do 2+ years ago. As long as he doesn't resort back to his old ways I expect him to be a .280/20/75 guy and possibly better.

The first person I remember questioning his mechanics at the plate was bobby valentine when he did games for ESPN before going to the Red Sox.

[DudyDawg]

The strike box is awful. Love it for replays. Not every pitch. Oh, and my cards are gonna win it all

[RBritt]

Dickerson stroked one today in Milwaukee.

[War Machine Dawg]

Did you notice all the swing and approach changes he's made? Things that have been talked about with him in the past but he has refused to address...then all of a sudden when his hometown team ships him off he decides he better do what It takes to be successful.

Look, 4-5 yrs ago I was the biggest JHey fan there was, but just like with francouer...although on a much smaller scale...he wouldn't take the coaching he needed and therefore never met potential offensively. Guys who refuse to be coached are typically not chemistry glue guys. I got scoffed at when I've said it in the past but he was traded for a reason other than his impending contract.

I'd been rooting for us to trade him for 2 years. Glad he's gone. Other than a much better walk rate, he really was Francouer 2.0. He may blow up with STL, but he'd peaked as a Brave. Moving him was absolutely the right decision. I'd much rather have found a way to keep J-Up.

[DudyDawg]

I think the Heyward trade was a good one for both teams. And for him. He needed to move on, cards needed him to make a possible push for the title, Braves didnt wanna pay him and he was plateauing for them. Win for all

[dawgs]

Yeah, that's not even remotely close to what I'm talking about.

He dives into pitches but doesn't clear his hips, which basically locks the hitter up and even if they do catch up to it they will have no lower body to provide power. Add to that the fact that he had gotten to where he held his hands away from his body, something he didn't do early on, and it becomes really difficult to extend thru contact because you can't keep your hands inside the ball. Poor extension thru contact+hips locked up= No power. The adjustments i saw him make last nite were almost 100% what he needed to do 2+ years ago. As long as he doesn't resort back to his old ways I expect him to be a .280/20/75 guy and possibly better.

The first person I remember questioning his mechanics at the plate was bobby valentine when he did games for ESPN before going to the Red Sox.

Well I don't think heyward purposefully wanted to be bad. Either the Braves coached him poorly or they weren't very good at relating to him why he needed to make adjustments that the cards apparently convinced him to make over the course of a couple of months.

[shoeless joe]

Well I don't think heyward purposefully wanted to be bad. Either the Braves coached him poorly or they weren't very good at relating to him why he needed to make adjustments that the cards apparently convinced him to make over the course of a couple of months.

No, but he wanted to do it "his way" and not take coaching. A player being uncoachable is not on the coaches. And it was prolly a big wake up call for someone who thought they were the face of a franchise to get shipped off early on in offseason. Add to that the fact that he most likely heard the same thing from the cardinals coaches that he'd heard in Atlanta and he decided he did need to make a change. I expect him to have a good year but I wasn't heart broken when he was traded.

[Dawg61]

Corey Kluber's agent did a horrible job..

5 YR just 38 million for one of the best arms in the game.

Anddddd Rick Porcello just got $82 mill over 4 years. Before he's ever thrown a pitch for Boston. That's fu@ked up. CY Young winner gets $44 mill less AND an extra year. Ouch!

[dawgs]

Anddddd Rick Porcello just got $82 mill over 4 years. Before he's ever thrown a pitch for Boston. That's fu@ked up. CY Young winner gets $44 mill less AND an extra year. Ouch!

I don't think he's worth the deal, but porcello is approaching free agency after this season, and he's also been in the bigs for 6 full seasons, made 27+ starts each of those seasons, and is only 26, so he has the benefit of age and service time on his side, and the leverage to walk away in 7 months. Kluber is 3 years older, still has 4 years of team control, and his only leverage would literally be to threaten to sit out the season. When your alternative is to sit out and not get paid at all, $38M over 5 years sounds awfully good.

Look, literally everything about kluber says he's a better pitcher, his actual numbers, his sabermetrics (which predicted a breakout last season fwiw - K/9, K/BB were better but not grossly out of whack from 2013 to 2014, and his FIP and xFIP in 2013 were 0.55 and 0.75 runs lower than his actual era), everything. But to say kluber's agent screwed him over is a failure to understand the circumstances surrounding both signings.

[Dawg61]

I don't think he's worth the deal, but porcello is approaching free agency after this season, and he's also been in the bigs for 6 full seasons, made 27+ starts each of those seasons, and is only 26, so he has the benefit of age and service time on his side, and the leverage to walk away in 7 months. Kluber is 3 years older, still has 4 years of team control, and his only leverage would literally be to threaten to sit out the season. When your alternative is to sit out and not get paid at all, $38M over 5 years sounds awfully good.

Look, literally everything about kluber says he's a better pitcher, his actual numbers, his sabermetrics (which predicted a breakout last season fwiw - K/9, K/BB were better but not grossly out of whack from 2013 to 2014, and his FIP and xFIP in 2013 were 0.55 and 0.75 runs lower than his actual era), everything. But to say kluber's agent screwed him over is a failure to understand the circumstances surrounding both signings.

Still doesn't make it not fu@ked up.

[dawgs]

Still doesn't make it not fu@ked up.

Gotta be a fair balance for small market teams that develop a guy in their system to have him under reasonable contract for a period of time once he reaches MLB and letting guys make their millions. Its not fair to the Indians to spend years developing a guy like kluber, only to lose him 2 years into his MLB career because they can't compete with the Yankees, nats, Mariners, Cubs, red sox, or Dodgers on the free agency market.

[msstate7]

Matt Cain gets MRI on elbow, Jake Peavy officially scratched as Giants rotation goes into full scramble mode

http://blogs.mercurynews.com/giants/2015/04/06/matt-cain-gets-mri-elbow-peavy-officially-scratched-giants-rotation-goes-full-scramble-mode/

[dawgs]

Matt Cain gets MRI on elbow, Jake Peavy officially scratched as Giants rotation goes into full scramble mode

http://blogs.mercurynews.com/giants/2015/04/06/matt-cain-gets-mri-elbow-peavy-officially-scratched-giants-rotation-goes-full-scramble-mode/

It's an odd year.

[Dawg61]

Matt Cain gets MRI on elbow, Jake Peavy officially scratched as Giants rotation goes into full scramble mode

http://blogs.mercurynews.com/giants/2015/04/06/matt-cain-gets-mri-elbow-peavy-officially-scratched-giants-rotation-goes-full-scramble-mode/

Yea not good. They've both struggled in preseason too. Vogelsong and Petit will take their spots.

[Dawg61]

Gotta be a fair balance for small market teams that develop a guy in their system to have him under reasonable contract for a period of time once he reaches MLB and letting guys make their millions. Its not fair to the Indians to spend years developing a guy like kluber, only to lose him 2 years into his MLB career because they can't compete with the Yankees, nats, Mariners, Cubs, red sox, or Dodgers on the free agency market.

I have no sympathy for "small" market teams in this current era of ridiculously ludicrous TV contracts.