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MLB 2016-2017 Offseason |OT| At Least Next Year is an Odd Numbered Year.

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R

RBH

Member
Bartolo Colon with his softball team..........while wearing Braves gear!



fjeYg5s.jpg
 
R

rando14

Member
Not sure how to feel about switching Karns for Dyson, losing such valuable club control is rough...

BUT I am happy about trading away Seff Smiff for a healthy Gallardo, hopefully he can be an innings eater
 
G

GK86

Homeland Security Fail
Atlanta Braves ‏@Braves

Friday, June 9 #BravesBobble: Bartolo Colon bobblehead night featuring his signature pitching motion! #NationalBobbleheadDay


June 9th is when the Mets are in town. Braves are playing dirty.
 
S

Silver Arrows

Banned
From the LA Times archives:

Mariner outfielder says that when he was 17 years old he took nearly 300 aspirins because of depression.

Ken Griffey Jr., All-Star outfielder for the Seattle Mariners, says he tried to kill himself in 1988, when he was 17.

"It seemed like everyone was yelling at me in baseball, then I came home and everyone was yelling at me there," he told the Seattle Times. "I got depressed. I got angry. I didn't want to live."

In January of 1988, Griffey said, he swallowed nearly 300 aspirin and wound up in intensive care in Providence Hospital at Mount Airy, Ohio.

He had thought about suicide a couple of times, he said, "with my father's gun or something."

"The aspirin thing was the only time I acted," he said in the interview, published Sunday. "It was such a dumb thing."
Click to expand...

Griffey said he agreed to make the story public in the hope it might dissuade others from seeing suicide as a solution.

"Don't ever try to commit suicide," Griffey said he wants to tell children. "I am living proof how stupid it is.'

Griffey was the Mariners' first selection in June of 1987. At 17, he was away from home the first time, spending his first year in pro ball with the Mariners' farm team in Bellingham, Wash., and then the instructional league in Arizona.

In Bellingham, he said, he had run-ins with the teen-age sons of the team bus driver. He said one of them called him a racial slur, and another came looking for him with a gun.

When Griffey came home to Ohio that fall, his lifestyle created tension between him and his father, former major leaguer Ken Griffey Sr.

"I understood and all, but at 17 years old you can't be out until 3 or 4 in the morning," his father said. "I was able to sleep. But my wife (Birdie) was staying up worrying. So I tried to talk with him."

"Dad wanted me to pay rent or get my own place," Griffey Jr. said. "I was confused. I was hurting and I wanted to cause some hurt for others."

So, Griffey said, he emptied a large bottle of aspirin and swallowed the pills, despite efforts by a girlfriend and her brother to stop him. He said he got in his car and threw up.

The girlfriend's mother drove him to the hospital, where his stomach was pumped and he was placed in intensive care.

Griffey Sr. said he was scared and angry when he found out. He rushed to the hospital, where he and his son got into another argument.

"I ripped the IV out of my arm," Griffey Jr. said. "That stopped him yelling."

"I was mad, but what could I do?" his father said. "It made me realize kids have their own set of problems and pressures. They forget that parents were kids, too, not always Mom or Dad. But we forget life has changed a lot. It can be tougher in a lot of ways."



Griffey Jr. said he did not seek counseling after the incident.

"The problem was with me and my father," he said. "I'm smarter than most people think I am, although what I did was not smart. I knew what I had done and got over it. There weren't any deep problems with me afterward."

The family agreed Griffey Jr. should move into a condominium.

Slightly more than a year later, at 19, Griffey Jr. made the Mariners after batting .359 in 26 spring games. He has since become a .300 hitter and Gold Glove outfielder. He made the All-Star team last year for the second consecutive season, leading the American League in votes.

He says he has resolved many of his problems through heart-to-heart talks with his father.

"The biggest change is that I learned my dad wasn't just trying to boss me around," Griffey Jr. said. "He was trying to help me."
Click to expand...
 
S

Silver Arrows

Banned
Another fun article on the M's from 1999, also from the LA Times:

With Fox's finances, Griffey or Rodriguez exchanging Seattle uniform for one with Dodgers isn't an idea out of the blue.

Interleague play was introduced as a nice treat, an opportunity to put new faces in different places.

When the Seattle Mariners play the Dodgers this weekend it will be more like an appetizer, a prelude of what's to come. If you think Ken Griffey Jr. and Alex Rodriguez look good in Dodger Stadium, imagine one of them playing there in a Dodger uniform.

It could happen, with a little patience and a lot of money.

Both become free agents after the 2000 season, and both expect to command salaries that will make Kevin Brown's $105-million contract look like the contents of the tips cup at a frozen yogurt shop.

There's no way the Mariners can afford to keep both Griffey and Rodriguez. Not if those rumblings about them seeking $200-million contracts are to be believed. One of them has to go. And when the topic involves big money, it doesn't take long for the Dodgers and Fox to enter the conversation.
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This is a company that talked about spending a billion dollars to buy a soccer team. A couple hundred million isn't going to scare these folks away.

For the Mariners, money is an issue. Seattle's about-to-open Safeco Field apparently isn't the solution. Although it has more than 60 luxury boxes that will lease from between $75,000 and $145,000 a year, the Mariners still say they need taxpayer help to pay off the $100 million overruns on the new stadium.

This is just another case of baseball owners asking for more and giving the fans less. The Seattle situation parallels that of the San Diego Padres, who used the euphoria of last year's World Series run to win public approval for a new stadium, then put a higher premium on maintaining the payroll than keeping the core of the team intact.

Seattle's ballpark funding won approval during the Mariners' playoff run of 1995. The $517-million Safeco Field with a retractable roof was built primarily with tax money.

The Mariners chipped in $45 million. Then they had the nerve to insinuate that they might not re-sign their superstars without even more public help because of the added stadium costs.

Griffey didn't appreciate being used as a pawn in the funding battles. He also doesn't like playing for a team with such a weak pitching staff. And this week he spoke again about his issues with the excessive travel dictated by Seattle's isolated location in the Pacific Northwest.

Leaving the cozy indoors of the Kingdome for Safeco won't help Griffey's pursuit of Hank Aaron's career home run record either. Now he'll have to hit in the cool, damp air with fences that are 14 feet farther away down the right-field line and six feet farther in right-center.

The Dodger Stadium dimensions (330 feet down the lines, 385 in the power alleys) are similar to Safeco's, but the climate is better.

As for travel, the Dodgers don't have to leave the state to play two division rivals and the Arizona Diamondbacks are only an hour's flight away.

Griffey's wife and kids live in Orlando, Fla., which might make him partial to playing for an Eastern team. But the Dodgers could just have the team jet swing by and pick up his family on the way to Brown's family in Georgia and bring them all here.



Then there's the matter of poetic justice. The Dodgers surrendered the home run that pushed Aaron past Babe Ruth, so why shouldn't they benefit when Griffey hits the last of the 378 home runs he needs to top Aaron?

There are even more reasons to picture Rodriguez in Dodger Blue. First of all, his agent, Scott Boras, has a strong relationship with Dodger General Manager Kevin Malone. Boras represents current Dodgers Brown, Adrian Beltre, Angel Pena and Darren Dreifort.

Griffey's endorsement career has flourished despite Seattle's small media market. But Rodriguez has only scratched the surface. Put him in L.A. and he could be the next Ricky Martin.

Griffey will be 31 in the 2001 season. Rodriguez will be only 25 when it begins. If he wants long-term security and a mega-salary, Rodriguez could be locked up for 10 years, the prime years of his career, for $200 million.

While that astronomical figure sounds like a quantum leap, it's really only a logical progression.

The Dodgers are paying Raul Mondesi an average of almost $10 million a season for the 1999-2001 part of the contract he signed last year. Brown's contract averages $15 million a year. Rodriguez would come in at $20 million a year.

Of course the Dodgers would have to cut costs somewhere. The logical place to look would be Mondesi. Once the Dodgers were assured of landing Rodriguez or Griffey, they could start shopping Raul. Trade him for a package of minor leaguers that could help replenish the barren farm system. If the Dodgers could discuss trading Mondesi in a deal for 34-year-old Cincinnati Red shortstop Barry Larkin last off-season, they certainly could afford to part with Mondesi for what would amount to a 25-year-old Rodriguez and prospects.

Or if the Mariners try to trade either of the two players before they become free agents, Mondesi could be part of the package.

It's only one of the thoughts to keep in mind during this weekend's three-game series.

Anything beats thinking about this dismal season.
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B

Beckx

Member
chicagocubsfan said:
Manny Ramirez signed with a Japanese team.
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Koichi Fighting Dogs of the Shikoku Island League (an independent league). When Kyuji Fujikawa came back from MLB to try an NPB comeback he signed with the Fighting Dogs (and was thrown out of his first game on the first batter for a dangerous pitch). Julio Franco played/coached for an independent league team for a few years (Ishikawa Million Stars of the Challenge League).
 
C

CosmicQueso

Member
The Network says Bags, Rock and Pudge likely to get elected based on publicly released ballots. Vlad and Hoffman above 70% but not at 75%.

I'd be okay with those three getting in. Vive les Expos!

If Vlad got in with Raines, and both were wearing Expos lids... that would be tres fantastique.

Beckx said:
Koichi Fighting Dogs of the Shikoku Island League (an independent league). When Kyuji Fujikawa came back from MLB to try an NPB comeback he signed with the Fighting Dogs (and was thrown out of his first game on the first batter for a dangerous pitch). Julio Franco played/coached for an independent league team for a few years (Ishikawa Million Stars of the Challenge League).
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Great insight! Thanks for posting that.
 
X

XiaNaphryz

LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
Man, Pudge getting in before Bonds or Clemens.

Though with the large bump those 2 are getting in this year's ballots, maybe next year they'll make it in.
 
C

CosmicQueso

Member
XiaNaphryz said:
Man, Pudge getting in before Bonds or Clemens.

Though with the large bump those 2 are getting in this year's ballots, maybe next year they'll make it in.
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Sure. And Pudge is a pretty no doubt HOFer in my book regardless. He's right up there with Fisk, Bench, Carter, and certainly better than Piazza. It's not like Jorge Posada is getting in before Bonds and Clemens at least.
 
X

XiaNaphryz

LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
CosmicQueso said:
Sure. And Pudge is a pretty no doubt HOFer in my book regardless.
Click to expand...

Oh I agree he should get in, but there are voters who aren't voting for Bonds/Clemens but are fine with Pudge despite the various PED implications that have come up in the past.
 
F

Friggz

Member
CosmicQueso said:
Sure. And Pudge is a pretty no doubt HOFer in my book regardless. He's right up there with Fisk, Bench, Carter, and certainly better than Piazza. It's not like Jorge Posada is getting in before Bonds and Clemens at least.
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never understand why people look down their nose at posada.

guy slashed 273/374/474 with a 121ops+ (better offensive player than rodriguez, 4th best obp amongst catchers) not bad for a guy that came up a second baseman.
 
BFIB

BFIB

Member
Friggz said:
never understand why people look down their nose at posada.

guy slashed 273/374/474 with a 121ops+ (better offensive player than rodriguez, 4th best obp amongst catchers) not bad for a guy that came up a second baseman.
Click to expand...

Catchers in general tend to get the shaft on HOF voting. They are all compared to Bench, which is an almost impossible target to aim for. The fact that Ted Simmons is not in the HOF at all is ridiculous.
 
C

CosmicQueso

Member
Friggz said:
never understand why people look down their nose at posada.

guy slashed 273/374/474 with a 121ops+ (better offensive player than rodriguez, 4th best obp amongst catchers) not bad for a guy that came up a second baseman.
Click to expand...

Don't get me wrong. Great player, should have a plaque at the stadium. Just not a HOFer. Both Ted Simmons and Thurman Munson were arguably better. Certainly shouldn't be in before Pudge, Bonds or Clemens.

Posada will probably still get in. Solid career backed with the pinstripes usually does the trick.

BFIB said:
The fact that Ted Simmons is not in the HOF at all is ridiculous.
Click to expand...

Edit: Beaten. How long do you have to rock that avatar for, BFIB?
 
S

Silver Arrows

Banned
orthodoxy1095 said:
Chass is a man who repeatedly misreported stories, even going so far as to allege that Stan Musial was a racist without didn't deserve the Medal of Freedom based on an incident that didn't happen.

The man is a shitstain that shouldn't have a vote to begin with.
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Funny thing is, just about an hour ago they had Chass on Bob McCown's show on Sportsnet 590 basically to have him defend himself for his hilariously stupid blank ballot.

When I joined in, he was talking about how Tim Raines involvement in the Pittsburgh drug trials, and using the HOF's character clause, meant that was why he left him off his ballet.

It was nauseating to say the least, and I had to turn it off.
 
O

orthodoxy1095

Banned
Silver Arrows said:
Funny thing is, just about an hour ago they had Chass on Bob McCown's show on Sportsnet 590 basically to have him defend himself for his hilariously stupid blank ballot.

When I joined in, he was talking about how Tim Raines involvement in the Pittsburgh drug trials, and using the HOF's character clause, meant that was why he left him off his ballet.

It was nauseating to say the least, and I had to turn it off.
Click to expand...
Bleugh. He's such an idiot. He said he would stop voting in the HOF but then decided he would continue voting just to troll and annoy his critics.

He's a sad, sad old man.
 
S

Silver Arrows

Banned
So, I decided to dick around MVP Baseball 2005's owner mode, and for kicks, decided to do a fantasy draft.

So I present to you, the 2005 Seattle Mariners in the Silver Arrow-verse:

Pitching Rotation:
Pedro Martinez
Mark Mulder
Esteban Loaiza
John Thomson
Daniel Cabrera

Bullpen:
Kirk Saarloos
Omar Daal
Todd Van Poppel
Jairo Garcia
Abe Alvarez
Travis Harper
Antonio Osuna

Starting lineup:
Tony Womack
Shannon Stewart
Mark Teixeira
Willy Mo Pena
Jose Valentin
Ramon Hernandez
Rocco Baldelli
Larry Reed
Royce Merced

Bench:
Ricky Fuentes
Adam LaRoche
Eric Jacinto
Neifi Perez
Click to expand...
 
S

Silver Arrows

Banned
Maness a trailblazer? New surgery for elbow repair cut recovery time

When Seth Maness shut his eyes before a surgeon opened his right elbow, the former Cardinals reliever was not sure what awaited him on the other side of sleep. The troublesome ligament in his throwing arm had to be fixed and a complete reconstruction would mean missing an entire season.

He went under unsure.

He woke up a potential trailblazer.

Maness is a week away from returning to the mound and expects to be ready for opening day, just 7½ months after surgery, because Dr. George Paletta performed a repair that could eventually prove to be an alternative to Tommy John surgery for select big-league pitchers. Until the St. Louis-based orthopedic surgeon saw inside Maness’ elbow, he wasn’t sure if Maness was a candidate to be the first established major-league pitcher to receive the new procedure, Paletta said.

Now, the doctor and his patient are eager to watch as Maness’ first time toeing the rubber could be, in their words, “a significant step forward” for the industry. Another doctor who performs the repair surgery, Dr. Jeffrey Dugas, said there is “cautious optimism.”

“It was a game-time decision,” said Maness, a free agent. “I’m going into it sort of expecting Tommy John and hoping for the other one. You go from looking at missing a whole season to possibly being back at the start of the year — that’s a big relief. When Dr. Paletta told me, it was like this little ray of light: There’s a chance.”

Maness, 28, completed three sets of throws at a distance of 90 feet on Friday in the John Burroughs School gymnasium. He is scheduled to take the mound next week for the first time since his Aug. 18 surgery. He has been encouraged by how his arm feels at every stride in his rehab, which is accelerated from the usual Tommy John timetable. The Cardinals did not offer him a contract in early December, making him a free agent — one of the leading groundball relievers now available to any team. Sooner than expected.
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W

Windu

never heard about the cat, apparently
goodbye Mallex. :(
The #Braves have acquired minor-league LHPs Luiz Gohara & Thomas Burrows from the Mariners in exchange for Mallex Smith & Shae Simmons
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https://twitter.com/Braves/status/819265461221294080

Luiz Gohara ranked 3rd on BA's Top 10 list for the Mariners. (ahead of former brave Max Povse). Thomas Burrows was a 4th round draft pick this past June.

edit: Mallex could be going elsewhere:
Jerry Dipoto isn't done yet. He's working on another deal that could include Mallex Smith, the OF he just acquired from the #Braves.
Click to expand...
https://twitter.com/jcrasnick/status/819271032704028678
 
M

Mortemis

Banned
I'm pretty high on Gohara, his main issue is conditioning but he's put in a lot of effort last season. I think he could break out even more next year.

There goes the only high ceiling pitching prospect in our farm. :(
 
Z

zulux21

Member
Mr. Enigma said:
Looks like the Mariners are going to spin Mallex Smith back out to another team.
Click to expand...

hmmm they don't need a 3rd basemen or a DH
their closer seems alright.
looks like their outfield could use a little love though.

thus if the white sox are involved at all the only player I really could see them trading to seattle is Melky Cabrera.
 
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