2016 MLB thread. THE CUBS HAVE BROKEN THE CURSE! Chicago Cubs are your 2016 World Series champions

[jewbacca2]

Mike Trout called into the weather channel today

 

[proshares]

So the Mets pretty much said "**** defense, our pitching will strike everyone out and no ball will leave the infield."

It's like they completely forgot the World Series debacle on defense.

They let Daniel Murphy leave, but instead of going for a better defender, they instead traded for Neil Walker, another bat-first second baseman whose range at second base leaves a good bit to be desired. And rather than pursue a pure shortstop to serve as an upgrade over Wilmer Flores, the team signed Asdrubal Cabrera to a two year deal, despite the fact that he ranks dead last in UZR among qualified shortstops over the last three years. It’s actually possible that the 2016 Mets middle infield will have less range than the 2015 Mets, which is kind of hard to believe.

And now, with the re-signing of Cespedes, the Mets are looking at an outfield defense that will almost certainly be quite a bit worse than the one they ran out there a year ago. With Juan Lagares getting 1,000 innings in center field and the team giving some playing time to glove-first guys like Kirk Nieuwenhuis and Darrell Ceciliani, the Mets actually ranked 5th in outfield UZR a year ago, and 4th in defensive runs saved from their OFs. The Mets outfield was the main reason why the narrative about the team’s weak fielding wasn’t entirely true.

This year, though? Don’t expect a repeat performance. Cespedes is likely going to get the bulk of the innings in center field, barring an injury to either Curtis Granderson or Michael Conforto, who will flank him on most days. Granderson is still a good enough right fielder and the metrics loved Conforto during his insanely small sample rookie year — though the scouting reports that suggested he’d be an average defender in left should still carry more weight than a fraction of a year’s worth of data — but neither of those guys are going to be covering extra ground and getting to balls that Lagares got to a year ago. Cespedes’ arm will help make up for some of his range issues in center, but it seems pretty clear that this alignment will result in the team running down fewer balls than they did a year ago

Like that's really bad IMO when you have a lot of fireballers in your rotation.

But, we'll see.

 

[johnnyredstorm]

Lagares was so overrated defensively last year. He was nowhere near as good as he used to be. Not worried one bit.

 

[worldbeefreeg]

Pro not like a Mets move, what a surprise...

Lagares will play a lot of innings in center, Granderson is older needs rest, so will Cespesdes and Conforto occasionally.

Happy to have the guy back, team is ready to get it hopefully.

 

[Retroballer]

 

[dland24]

Ridiculous GOAT stat of the week:

Kanye West once wrote a song about Barry Bonds.  THAT is how good Barry was.  He inspired Kanye.  He inspired him to write about someone other than himself.

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

OK sorry.....that wasnt the real stat of the week.  Here is the real one:
Barry Bonds had 164 more career intentional walks than the Tampa Bay Rays have (688 to 524).

 

[jewbacca2]

so awful 

looks like a damn walmart jersey 

 

[nomnom]

 
so awful 

looks like a damn walmart jersey 

 

[madj55]

Looks like a BP jersey.

 

[kingfoamnyc]

Disgusting

 

[rolaholic]

Wow so Donaldson's hair was enough to get him an invite onto Vikings??

 

[essential1]

Can't think of a team that screwed themselves more by not diving into the FA Market than the Yankees... Yeah the Chapman deal was a steal, and Castro was a nice trade.. But they are around a .500 team still. They needed a massive upgrade in their Lineup. Not much they could have done with pitching, without regretting it later. Not signing anyone in that OF market was an epic horrible decision.

At least if they went after and got Upton, they could have reshuffled by trading Gardner for other needs, improved the team, and made a run, and Upton likely opts out after a few years.


The next couple of years are extremely bleak.... And they are stuck waiting for the paint to dry with a few weak Free Agencies until the FA Bonanza led by Harper going into the 2019 season.

 

[nick.]

these 2016 projected standings from Fangraphs look so off

 

[nomnom]

New Brewers alternates!

 

[dland24]

^Nice!!!

That MB logo is one of the best logos in sports history IMO.  

 

[celticspride34]

There's entirely too many teams who use navy as a main color...

 

[nomnom]

GOAT logo but navy makes the Brewers such a forgettable team, especially in that division
gotta bring back the royal blue pinstripes!

 

[nomnom]

http://bbwaa.com/16-hof-ballots/

All HOF ballots...im tryna find who didnt vote for Griffey

 

[essential1]

http://bbwaa.com/16-hof-ballots/

All HOF ballots...im tryna find who didnt vote for Griffey

It's not in there... 133 ballots are not listed

 

[nomnom]

dang

 

[651akathepaul]

New Brewers alternates!

Incredibly dope. I used to have a shirt with just that Brewers logo alone. No idea what happend to it, but I'm with @dland...Iconic logo right there.

 

[khalilmack52]

For years I had no clue that MB made the glove

 

[bronconation24]

New Brewers alternates!

Wow these are so clean. Going to have to pick up that fitted

 

[finallyfamous]

For years I had no clue that MB made the glove

Really?

Because for me it was the opposite.

I always saw the glove and then realized it was MB

 

[celticspride34]

For years I had no clue that MB made the glove

When I found this out years ago...