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I think that Ibanez has put himself in yankee history all while erasing ARod

Remember when everyone was freaking out over the first-place Indians and LOLing at the Tigers' slow start?

Looks like the Detroit Tigers just did their best impression of a janitor service and swept up the dust that is the New York Yankees.

Don't forget that the Orioles couldn't hit either.

I turned on Sportcenter to get the highlights from last nights game, and for the last 25 minutes all they talk about is A-rod. I guess the baseball season's over for them. They'll probably jump to Jets coverage after the commercial.

Nothing better than a game 7

I'm hoping it's a very close game in the late innings. The feeling of Game 7 down the stretch (in any sport) is like nothing else.

That 9th inning was crazy!

Wow.

Not that it makes up for the heartbreak, but I have to laugh at those whiney little birds since they suffered a similar fate as the Reds.

Sandoval with three jacks. Ridiculous.

Surprising Game 1 (if you look at the last week or last few years):

Kungfu Panda hits three dingers (2 off Verlander)
Verlander only goes 4 innings & gives up 5 runs
Barry Zito goes 5 2/3 giving up 1 ER
Lincecum relieves Zito and slams the Tigers with 5 Ks in 2 1/3

Not surprising:

Valverde works 1/3 of an inning and gives up 4 H and 2 ER



....I still think the Tigers will win the whole thing.

i'm rooting for the Giants. good win today.

ok, i've thought this for awhile now, but as the WS continues I thought it a good place to add in:

Buster Posey is the best catcher that I have seen in my lifetime.

He plays tough defense (getting the tag in time on Prince last night the latest example), he handles a pitching staff well (seen him many times go out to the mound to calm his guy down + seems to have the strategy of calling pitches down too), and he can hit with the best of them.

He missed most of last year with the same type of knee injury that Carlos Santana had. He is only 25yo (a year younger than our Carlos). And he is just dominant.

I've always had an affinity towards catchers (toughest position to play gains extra respect from me. my father-in-law also played the position for the O's single-A affiliate before blowing out his knee). And Buster is the best I have ever seen.

Despite being ESPN, Schoenfield is one of the best writers out there. Here's his AL Central offseason list:

http://espn.go.com/mlb/hotstove12/story/...-league-central

Ugh... THAT was depressing!

Thanks for sharing... I think.

should have said just skip the Indians section and see how flawed the rest of the AL Central is too

I don't get the ESPN.com hate. The TV channel is garbage, but they have a pretty impressive group of online writers. Keith Law, Buster Olney, Dan Szymborski, Kiley McDaniel, and Jayson Stark are all quality baseball writers.

I'd take them all any day over SI.com's Tom Verducci or CBS' Jon Heyman.

the issue with ESPN is that they have so many of everything (TV, writers, etc)

a large portion of them are purely "click" driven writers that try to get people to click on ESPN links based on saying crazy things. there is another segment that are some of the best writers out there.

but, you have to keep track of which ones are which (schoenfield for mlb, thorpe for nba, etc.).

As far as the offseason for the Reds I see 6 major questions that have to be answered.

1. What do you do with Aroldis Chapman? He was lights out as a closer but many still see him as a dominant starting pitcher. At the moment he is the Reds only viable closer but could be moved if the Reds re-sign Bronxton or if they take a shot on Madson again. He seems comfortable in his current niche and lets not forget the failed attempt to turn all-star closer Danny Graves into a starter, even when returned to the closer role he was never the same.

2. Who becomes the 5th starter? Leake went from being one of our best pitchers last season to one of our worst. He couldn't keep his breaking stuff down and thus was hammered all season. His initial exclusion from the post-season and performance after being added are all you need to know. Cueto, Bailey, Arroyo and Latos have the first 4 spots on lock. Do we ride with Leake again and hope he works out the kinks in the offseason? Do we make Chapman a starter and send Leake to the minors or use Leake as trade bait to fill another position?

3. Who starts in left field? Ludwick declined his option and became a free agent looking for that last multi-year deal. He's looking for 3 years but the Reds don't want to offer more than 2 and rightfully so. He had very dismal numbers the previous few years and even in the first half of the season until he caught fire in July. He will also be 35 years old. If Ludwick resigns he obviously starts but if he doesn't who replaces him? Heisey is capable but has never started an entire season. Fraizer can man the spot but it's not his natural position. I don't really see any prospects in the minors either who can fill the void.

4. The Drew Stubbs experiment? Let me get this out of the way, defensively I don't think there is a better CF than Stubbs. He's fast, makes excellent reads on the ball, gets a good jump and covers a lot of ground. But my goodness is he frustrating at the plate. He's like Adam Dunn with the strikeouts but without the HR's. It's said he's going to be doing a lot of work this offseason on being more patient at the plate and trying to pull the ball the other way but will it work? He has the spped to be a leadoff guy but not with his OBP. I wouldn't mind bringing in a Torri Hunter for a year at left or center. Billy Hamilton is being moved from shortstop to CF which tells me unless Stubbs turns it around they don't have longterm plans for him. Which brings me to...

5. Who bats leadoff? Stubbs would be ideal if he didn't strike out and could hit. Hamilton is at the very least a half-season away from being called up but more than likely will be here for the 2014 season. Cozart was meh in his shot and while Phillips did alright, I'd much rather bat him later in the lineup due to his RBI potential. The leadoff batter has escaped the Reds for years and I'm interested to see how they play it out.

6. Who mans 3rd? I believe 3rd base is Todd Fraziers spot now. If Rolen resigns I see him being more of a situational guy than a starter but he's more than likely gonna ride off into the sunset. I've also heard squabbles about the Reds trading for David Wright but with the extensions signed by Votto, Bruce and Phillips I don't think we have the funds to accomodate.

the Indians will gladly take Stubbs off your hands if you are offering to get rid of him cheap

Stubbs can't genetate much bat speed with those long arms of his. He'll always be a strikeout victim.

They were batting him 8th in the Giants series, it was like having the pitcher bat twice in a row.

I would take a ball boy for him.

Danny Graves is a bad example. He was a reliever his whole career, and even in college. Chapman was a starter when the reds signed him, so he is not too far removed from being a starter.

Your number 1, and 2 are mainly contingent on if they can sign Broxton, or another capable closer.

If not, I would not rule out Tony Cingrani as the 5th starter if he has a strong spring.

Yeah Graves is a bad example since he wasn't a power arm.

I prefer Chapman to stay in the closer role since he dominates the position and is maybe the best at it heading into next season. To be a starter in the majors he's going to have to learn how to change speeds better and he hasn't started a major league game before.

I trust Walt will make the right decision.

-------------------------------------------------


Jocketty: Reds could trade shortstop this winter
18 hours ago by JonPaulMorosi

Cincinnati Reds general manager Walt Jocketty has been popular among his peers at this week’s GM meetings in Indian Wells, Calif.

He has what many of them need: shortstops.

The Reds have two talented shortstops on their 40-man roster: Zack Cozart, 27, and Didi Gregorius, 22. Both are far away from free agency, meaning one could be dealt to fill a more immediate need.

In fact, Jocketty told FOXSports.com Thursday that it’s possible he will trade one of them this winter.

“It depends if we get back what we need,” Jocketty said. “If we don’t, then I won’t mind holding onto them.”

Interesting.
The Twins have a need for a SS, and have a player that can fill a Reds need in Span...

I would hope for Revere, I guess that just depends on personal preference but that guy never strikes out and hit over .300.

So the favorites in the al east are Baltimore and Toronto?
Who saw that coming?

Baltimore is still worse than Tampa Bay, Toronto, and New York. Last year was a fluke.

i largely agree with that on the O`s (depending on what they do this offseason), but it's not as fun to say with the NYY and Boston in the division.

Rays may still trade Shields, lose Upton, etc. Not sure they aren't going into a rebuild mode (though with Price and some decent-to-good arms they always have a punchers chance).

Jays just made their staff look a ton better. Morrow/Buerle/J.Johnson is a nice trio (if Josh can stay healthy of course). Makes depending on a Romero comeback less important.

It's funny as hell to hear all the Miami folks chastise the Marlins, when they have won 2 world series in the last 15 years. Try living without a championship for 58 years, and then have to deal with a guy like Dolan.. It sure looks like the Marlins got hoodwinked here, but I didn't even know the fans cared about baseball down there. They really left GianCarlo Stanton out to dry. Out of anybody on their team, he would be the one I would covet. He could do it all.

i don't know about Giancarlo, but that Michael Stanton they used to have was quite a ballplayer

They definitely got hoodwinked.

Trout should have been MVP

I think the triple crown winner has to win it, and his team won more games. That's usually the main criteria when determining mvp right?

They rarely give it to a guy whose team didn't make the playoffs.

Trout is awesome though, if his team wins more games and goes further in the playoffs then I have no problem with him winning it. That just seems like how it normally goes.