Comments on PHILOSOFICKLE: 2011 Baseball Preview

for the Rays. That's still a pretty damn good...

2011-05-23T11:24:17.713-04:00

for the Rays. That's still a pretty damn good team in a division where the money teams are stagnating.

We had the same NL MVP pick. I actually know Carlos a little bit from when I was the mascot for the Yakima Bears (low-A D-Backs). I'd run a race around the bases against a kid in the middle of the second inning, and each day I'd find a new way to lose. One day, I had something else planned, but out of nowhere, Carlos speared me to the ground. My bear head almost came off, and we were both laughing so hard we couldn't breathe. He was great, and I'm glad he's become a star.

Blogger won't let me comment. Might be too lo...

2011-05-23T11:23:55.771-04:00

Blogger won't let me comment. Might be too long. I'll break it up.

Yeah, nobody with this short a career can be called a "lock" for the HOF (sorry to bring up this dead post, but baseball's my thing and I haven't stopped by in a while). Crain absolutely was a big loss. One bad month at the beginning of last season had everyone deciding he was done, and over the next five months he was literally the best reliever in the game. Now we have spare parts. It's a mess. I thought the Twins would be very good - certainly nowhere near 15-30 - but I expected the bullpen to be a big liability.

Not sure where your "Ugh" came from

And I agree totally with your comment on the O'...

2011-03-31T13:58:05.994-04:00

And I agree totally with your comment on the O's. Just like another DC area team with a crappy owner, drafting and meddling issues are just burying them deeper into obscurity.

Look, I think that the batting titles are awesome,...

2011-03-31T13:30:19.657-04:00

Look, I think that the batting titles are awesome, but I'm of the opinion that calling someone a HOFer in the infancy of their career is just hyperbolic and without merit...generally. Mauer's doing a heck of a job throwing a wrench in my thinking, but that's where I stand.

Too many times we've heard of "the next MJ" or "the next (fill in promising star here)" and they simply don't pan out. Like I said, I really like and appreciate the studliness of Mauer, but I'm going to withhold HOF status until it's time, even if it appears a sure thing.

Quinn - I almost picked the O's for not-last...

2011-03-31T10:51:37.404-04:00

Quinn -

I almost picked the O's for not-last. They improved their offense on paper. But I just don't actually see folks like Guerrero turning into improvement in reality. Maybe a few more runs scored, but not enough. That's a team that needs to learn how to draft better.

As for the Twins... last year was actually a down year for a handful of the key players (Span, Morneau (injury), Mauer). So hopefully it turns out.

And Mauer is totally HOF already. He has as many batting titles as every other catcher in history. How is that not HOF?

Good job, once again. Too bad for my O's...tha...

2011-03-31T10:31:18.895-04:00

Good job, once again. Too bad for my O's...that's just life with the big fish, I suppose. Buck may manage to win, despite the owner's best attempts at failure.

I think the Twins will be good this year, but somehow I think they lose an edge. Call it a gut feeling. Mauer, one of my favorite players in the game, will be good (I think it's too early to tag him HOF...years and perspective will only tell), but some of those guys have been over-performing for a while now, and I think it's about time for some of them to fall back to Earth. Hope I'm wrong!