MLB 2013 v. A-Rod Suspended for 162 Games (Thank You Based God)

[snapple]

Congrats to AL Cy Young winner David Price and NL Cy Young winner R.A. Dickey!

Both Cy Young races were good, but I think they got them about as right as you could.

Q: "but snapple, it's 2012, why do we have the 2013 thread already?"

A: Great question! I was kind of waiting till the end of the year to start the 2013 thread. But, it looks like the off season is already in full swing. So I decided, what the hell? It might as well be a new year! This OP will have a comprehensive list of what the hell has happened since the San Francisco Giants were crowned World Champions in 2012!

The Mets bought out a negotiated contract of Jason Bay. He is now a free agent.

The Tigers signed Torii Hunter for two years (2/26m)

The Dodgers won the rights to negotiate with South Korean south-paw Ryu Hyun-jin

The Blue Jays and traded for Yunel Escobar, Adeiny Hechavarria, Henderson Alvarez, Jeff Mathis and prospects Anthony DeSclafani, Justin Nicolino and Jake Marisnick for Jose Reyes, Josh Johnson, Mark Buehrle, John Buck, Emilio Bonifacio and $4MM (MLBTR)

The Red Sox signed David Ross for two years (2/6.2m)

THE ASTROS ARE NOW IN THE AL WEST INSTEAD OF THE NL
sorry deb

There have been a flurry of other moves, and I feel like I am forgetting a glaring one. I can't put my finger on it at the moment. Anyway! Congrats again to the Giants and I can't wait for another great year of baseball!

[DebraKadabra]

The Astros moving from NL Central to AL West is a pretty glaring omission.
 
Edited for epic derpness/invalid assumption.

[snapple]

The Astros moving from NL Central to AL Central is a pretty glaring omission.

Jesus Christ. 

[DebraKadabra]

All good - I covered it for ya.

[antigoon]

Has a Cy Young winner ever been traded right after he won the award?

[snapple]

Has a Cy Young winner ever been traded right after he won the award?

I do not believe so. But, Dickey is the first knuckleballer. But, he throws his knuckleball pretty close to a fourseamer.

[wkiml]

Clemens ...from Toronto to the Yankees

Martinez from Montreal to Boston

both were traded the year after winning the CY

[antigoon]

Interesting. People seem to think R.A. is gonna be gone pretty soon. The Mets need some serious bats in the outfield (and a catcher), and I'm not sure how they get them without trading him or Jon Niese.

[Dimitrius]

This being the Mets they'll proabably trade Wheeler.

[rogerdil]

I get the whole "let's explore a trade for Dickey and see if we can get great pieces in return," but why not apply the same logic to the massively overrated Wright.

[wolfandwolfandwolf]

I see that this was touched on a bit in the last thread, but man.  How much more does Loria need to do before he gets forced out of baseball?  I thought it was really bad with Tom Hicks out here in Arlington a few years, but this guy is on a new level.

Also, holy cow the AL East is loaded.

[snapple]

I get the whole "let's explore a trade for Dickey and see if we can get great pieces in return," but why not apply the same logic to the massively overrated Wright.

Wright is a fucking good 3B.

[antigoon]

Overrated or not, Wright is one of the team's sole sources of offensive production. Pitching is, remarkably, an area of strength for the Mets.

[jcmistat]

Posey better win MVP. I don't really care who wins AL but if I had a vote I'd choose Trout.

[rogerdil]

Wright had an excellent defensive year in 2012 and overall he's above-average defensively.  He puts up very good offensive numbers, but he's not clutch at all.  Not saying he's a bum, but his untouchable status seems more tied to his popularity as a golden boy (not denying that he seems like a very good person) and possibly due to Jeff's "love" towards him (cf. Dolan and Isiah; Woody and Sanchez/Tebow).  Plus, all I'm questioning is why is any trade talk is completely off the table; if he's so great, then another team would want to offer some good players in return.  (I personally think he'd be very good on an AL team with complementary bats already in place.)  Why not investigate it?  Mets are so strapped for cash, yet are going to pay him a boatload of money, no questions asked.  And let's not exaggerate the Mets pitching; it's definitely better than their hitting, but that's not saying much.

[snapple]

Clutch? oh goddd

[rogerdil]

Great rebuttal

[snapple]

Great rebuttal

There is no quantifiable stat for clutch. The best we can do is BA/wRC+/OPS/OPS+/OBP etc w/RISP. Even that's a crapshoot. Fact is, there really is no quantifiable thing as clutch.

[Tick]

Interesting. People seem to think R.A. is gonna be gone pretty soon. The Mets need some serious bats in the outfield (and a catcher), and I'm not sure how they get them without trading him or Jon Niese.

Dickey is going no where at the moment. They have him 1 more year and you can bet they will not trade him until maybe the deadline next July, if at all.
Niese has a modest contract ( 5 years, 25 mil) and could be dealt if the right offer presents itself.

[jcmistat]

Posey wins MVP

[snapple]

Hoping Trout does...

[snapple]

Can't wait for the old guard to die. They blew this one.

[wolfandwolfandwolf]

Triple crown. Stop it.

[snapple]

Triple crown. Stop it.

Ted Williams would like a couple MVPs.

[orcus116]

Triple crown. Stop it.

That's why there's a Hank Aaron award, for hitters, and a whole other award for all around players. Trout was clearly the better player.

[KevShmev]

I am fine with Cabrera winning.  And considering how decisively he won, it goes without saying that he was a deserving winner.  Trout had a great year, too, but Cabrera deserved it.

[Destiny Of Chaos]

I feel that they got each of the awards correctly. I would have loved to see Buck win MOY but I cannot argue with Melvin getting it. AL Cy Young was a toss up, but every other award had clear winners, and they got 'em right.

[Dimitrius]

Triple crown. Stop it.

Cabrera is the first of the last 6 triple crown winners to also win MVP.

I think you all know that I completely disagree with the choice, but I never said Miggy was undeserving, so congrats!

[KevShmev]

Cabrera is the first of the last 6 triple crown winners to also win MVP.

I don't think that matters.  The fact that no one had had one in 45 years before this year shows how truly special what Cabrera did was.  Him doing it while helping his team get to the playoffs made voting probably pretty easy for a lot of voters.

[orcus116]

Might as well give the imploding White Sox and the flailing Twins and Royals a shared honor for helping the Tigers to the playoffs as well.

[Destiny Of Chaos]

Might as well give the imploding White Sox and the flailing Twins and Royals a shared honor for helping the Tigers to the playoffs as well.

Oh God. Not this again.

They were the American League Champions.

[Dimitrius]

Might as well give the imploding White Sox and the flailing Twins and Royals a shared honor for helping the Tigers to the playoffs as well.

You're forgetting that "without Cabrera they would've never made the playoffs!" Because "he plays the game the right way, gives 110%", he's not small so he's not  "scrappy" but he knows "how to play, he knows how to bat" or any other stupid old baseball analyst cliché.

[orcus116]

Might as well give the imploding White Sox and the flailing Twins and Royals a shared honor for helping the Tigers to the playoffs as well.

Oh God. Not this again.

They were the American League Champions.

Good for them and they showed up in the playoffs, but they still finished 7th overall in the season as far as records go. Outside of the hilarious notion that one player on a team of 25 actually carries that much weight they sauntered into the playoffs in a very weak division and got hot as a team at the right time.

[snapple]

Might as well give the imploding White Sox and the flailing Twins and Royals a shared honor for helping the Tigers to the playoffs as well.

Oh God. Not this again.

They were the American League Champions.

Good for them and they showed up in the playoffs, but they still finished 7th overall in the season as far as records go. Outside of the hilarious notion that one player on a team of 25 actually carries that much weight they sauntered into the playoffs in a very weak division and got hot as a team at the right time.

The Tigers weren't even that hot. The Yankees played like absolute garbage.

[Dimitrius]

And if there's anything the MLB postseason has shown us is that, you just gotta get in! Once you're in you can get hot and get to the WS. See, '06 Cards, '07 Rockies, '11 Cards as few examples.