[Basel]

 

[Basel]

Kershaw opens the season for the Dodgers. Matt Kemp back at Dodger Stadium. Should be fun.

 

[Basel]

A-Rod's first at-bat since September 2013 is a walk.

 

[Basel]

Kershaw opens the season for the Dodgers. Matt Kemp back at Dodger Stadium. Should be fun.

Kemp with an RBI single off Kershaw. Well played.

 

[E.H. Munro]

Mookie Betts looked really good today. If he had eligibility he'd run away with the ROY award.

 

[ChrisWoj]

Your really really really really early Cy Young leader in the AL? The unstoppable machine that is Shane Green.

Okay, but seriously, great start. He's been huge for a Tigers team already missing Verlander... 16IP, 7H, 1BB, 8K, 0ER.


Edit: Oh and I almost forgot... 16IP - 166 pitches thrown.

Second Edit: And judging by his Yahoo picture, I think he has a lazy eye...

 

[Floods]

Red Sox pitching is beeeeaaad. Good lord.

 

[Basel]

Going to tonight's Dodgers game. Only my second Dodgers game ever. Kershaw on the mound and going for his 100th win...again. Hope he gets it.

 

[Wiz]

Hoping the Orioles can get on a good streak. Adam Jones has been amazing to start the Season and Hardy is back now. Just need Weiters to get healthy. Well that and our pitching to do well.

 

[Basel]

Hoping the Orioles can get on a good streak. Adam Jones has been amazing to start the Season and Hardy is back now. Just need Weiters to get healthy. Well that and our pitching to do well.

Thought you were a Nationals fan based off your love of the Wizards. I was wrong.

 

[Wiz]

Thought you were a Nationals fan based off your love of the Wizards. I was wrong.

I grew up watching the Orioles long before the Nats came to town.

 

[Basel]

Scherzer has been ridiculous of late. Should've had a perfect game last night.

 

[Wiz]

Scherzer has been ridiculous of late. Should've had a perfect game last night.

Yep. The rules clearly state that the batter has to make an effort to avoid being hit to be awarded first base. Leaning your elbow into a pitch does not equal attempting to get out of the way.

 

[ChrisWoj]

I think JD Martinez is on nanorobots. Its how he programmed himself to hit more like Miggy. Injected nanorobots. He was a member of the "absurd June" club this year, and is off to a hotter start in July.

 

[ChrisWoj]

I was on ESPN.com looking at Bryce Harper's season numbers (they're ludicrous, by the way). I decided to swing over to Trout's page and just do a quick scan of how they compare at this moment.

... it took me a minute.

First I'm looking on the drop down box for California. Then I realize, oops... I'm looking for the wrong team name. So my eyes scan upward (yep) looking for Anaheim... Oh wait, I've gotta go DOWN the alphabet... Totally brainfarted and forgot momentarily that they're the LA Angels now.

 

[scdn]

Haha well if you can't find the Cubs, they'really not at the bottom of the division.

 

[ChrisWoj]

Haha well if you can't find the Cubs, they'really not at the bottom of the division.

Oh, they're still there? When I didn't see them at the bottom of the NL Central I just kinda assumed they'd been contracted.

 

[E.H. Munro]

Oh, they're still there? When I didn't see them at the bottom of the NL Central I just kinda assumed they'd been contracted.

The Cubs, like Boston, are a future team. In 2017 they're both gonna be great.

 

[ChrisWoj]

The Cubs, like Boston, are a future team. In 2017 they're both gonna be great.

The difference is... the Cubs are already on the cusp, and have provided solid evidence that this is coming at a Major League level. The Red Sox on the other hand - a wholllllle lot of hope in that analysis. Frankly - I think calling them a 2017 club is selling them short. There's no reason the Cubs can't be considered a 2016 team. Hell, consider last year's Royals: at this point it isn't absurd to suggest they could make a run at a championship in 2015. The Red Sox just aren't an equivalent team to lump together with the Cubs right now.

 

[E.H. Munro]

Betts, Bogaerts, and E-Rod have shown really well at the major league level. Swihart did have the injury setback, but he leapt to the majors after very little AAA ball and has kept getting better. Moncada and Devers are going to move quickly, watching them you can see they're more Betts than Bogaerts.

Sam Travis (1B) will also force his way into the majors early next year. The one big organisational weakness is starting pitching, and their major league scouting department is so bad I find myself secretly hoping that they don't address the problem in free agency. Anderson Espinoza will be pitching in Boston sometime in 2017 (despite their best efforts they won't be able to stop him, at 17 he's dominating 19 & 20 year olds), albeit on a limited schedule. Boston's amateur scouting department is as good as the MLB one is bad. It's bizarre.

EDIT: Moncada and Devers are the interesting ones, because they're both IF and Boston has players everywhere but 1B, and they have Travis waiting in the wings there. One of those guys is probably going to LF (Devers most likely). But after next year I expect that Boston will be subsidising Sandoval's contract to open room for Moncada.