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The Polaroid Random Thoughts Baseball Thread

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Herman
I agree with Joe Sheehan here, I'd rather have Prince Fielder at age 28-35 than Albert Pujols at age 32-39....and likely for less money.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/20...6/23/pujols.fielder/index.html?sct=mlb_t11_a1
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That's a nonsense article based purely on the fact that the best player bar none from 2001-2011 had a slow start to this season and ended up on the DL due to an unlucky injury. Comparing Fielder to Pujols in the first place and suggesting that an overweight slugger is going to outperform one of the best players to play the game is purely for a catchy headline.

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Herman
There is so much going on, I'm not really sure what has legs and what is just column fodder.
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I'm not sure either, the first reports which came out were about moving one team (either the Marlins or Astros) to the AL to create two divisions with equal teams. It's hard to sift through everything and see if any other potential changes actually came through official channels or just speculative reporting.

Herman
Polaroid what are your thoughts on potential division realignment and interleague play?
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I like the idea of division realignment, at the moment it gives many teams little incentive to improve themselves in their division and gives many teams little chance to get to the postseason due to being in tough divisions. Let's go down the dull route and take the AL East, the Yankees are going to be contenders there year in year out since they spend more money than anyone else in baseball. The Red Sox are there every year because they do spend a lot but also because they know how to value (and not overpay for) free agents and also have a very good eye for scouting and developing talent - that's a winning combination. The Rays are a solid team despite no support and little revenue and the Jays/Orioles play to avoid the cellar each year even though they would be pretty competitive teams in any other league. Compare that to the mediocrity of the AL Central - year in year out, the winners there end up being the best of a bad bunch and it's unfair that the Rays miss out on the postseason despite being a better team than the White Sox. An AL/NL division would have equal games played against all other teams so the winners of the AL are true winners since they end up at the top of a weighted league.

Interleague play, not really a fan since there is no weighting of the schedules. It should be weighted as best as it can to ensure that the likes of the Yankees don't get an easy ride every year by having a ton of games against the Mets. I mean, that's not difficult to do.

Herman
I don't see why there can't be 1 AL/NL series going on at all times to balance out the schedule? Move Houston to the AL West is easier than moving Arizona to the AL West and Houston to the NL West.
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If we're talking about the six division format then less is more in terms of change, moving Houston is easier than any multiple changes to get even (or rather odd) numbers per division.

Herman
Or, there is discussion of scrapping the divisions and moving Arizona or Houston to the AL and just having two leagues, and the top 5 spots make the playoffs with playoff expansion. Then there is discussion of the postseason format with the 4th and 5th place teams.
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I'm not sure about that happening, Bud Selig continually says how he wants a shorter season. Or specifically a season not going further than XX/XX/XX. If you battle the 4th and 5th for the wild card spot then is there going to be time in the schedule for this? Too long a series and the rest of the teams are going to have to sit out until it's over, too short and it's basically a coin flip and in the case of the latter why not just go with the team that has been the 4th best over the course of the season?
 
Nationals manager Jim Riggleman had a three game sweep against the Mariners and has won 11 of their past 12 games. But then he resigned since the club wouldn't commit to his option next year citing he "repeatedly emphasized his displeasure with the one-year contract he's worked under throughout his managerial career".

If you don't like one year contracts then don't sign them. And if it makes you that unhappy then be good enough to either warrant a multiyear contract or get a better negotiator. If Dusty Baker can sign multiple multiyear contracts then you're doing something wrong.
 
Nationals manager Jim Riggleman had a three game sweep against the Mariners and has won 11 of their past 12 games. But then he resigned since the club wouldn't commit to his option next year citing he "repeatedly emphasized his displeasure with the one-year contract he's worked under throughout his managerial career".

If you don't like one year contracts then don't sign them. And if it makes you that unhappy then be good enough to either warrant a multiyear contract or get a better negotiator. If Dusty Baker can sign multiple multiyear contracts then you're doing something wrong.
 
Daft
Does he really think he's going to get a lot of sympathy?
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Probably not.

Daft
You were the manager of a MLB team, your team was playing well and you're crying about the length of your contract.
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If you negotiate a contract, don't complain when the team fulfills that contract and uses their discretion of whether or not to take the club option year.
 
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