Official 2012 MLB Offseason Thread

Lorenzo's wild card whine fest might be my least favorite Lorenzo rant

I have been a Braves fan since I was old enough to remember. As a result of his time in Atlanta when I was a kid,I have always liked Joe Torre. But I went to my first Braves game in 1979 with my grandfather, so by the time they went to the World Series in 1991 when I was in high school, it already felt like I had suffered for years. I went to a WS game that year, and every time they went. I went to the parades in 91, 92, and 95. But the 80's were really, really, REALLY bad except for 1 year, and it was tough to watch sometimes. But you find connections with players like Dale Murphy, or Phil Neikro, and you continue to root for your team, because eventually, it will pay off. And it finally did for me.

But hey, according to Forbes, Atlanta is the most miserable sports city! I have a hard time disagreeing really. But I won't change what teams I support just because Bobby Cox retired, or because they gave unceremonius exits to Glavine and Smoltz. I'm not going to change teams because they had an epic collapse last year when they should haev been a lock for the playoffs. And even though they are owned by a corporation who doesn't care about winning, I'm still not going to just find another team to root for. 30 years is too much of an investment.

Exactly why I'm going to stick to my guns with where I've fallen into. Despite those types of examples which are more or less what I went through, they weren't the end all be all for me. It was really just that I was starting to not care about the sport and I knew that wasn't me. Even with a big investment. It all boils down to that fact that no one (or nothing) is bigger than the game itself, and with the Yankees I no longer felt that way.

I've been reading a lot of articles and listening to all the idiots call in to radio shows and whatnot....and it actually makes me laugh.

There are a lot of self proclaimed "baseball purists" who believe that we shouldn't change the current one Wild Card Playoff format because it would be insulting to change what is "baseball history".

Baseball history? BASEBALL HISTORY?!?!? I hope these self proclaimed baseball purists realize that we've only had the current one Wild Card Playoff format for the last 16 seasons!

Everyone got used to the Wild Card. So if people consider something that's only been happening for 16 seasons of Baseball's over 100 year history as an "unbreakable tradition",.....well, to those people I say, you will get used to this just like you got used to the Wild Card.

If we really want to go with what is BASEBALL tradition, the best team in the AL and best team in the NL would go straight to the World Series.

Like I said, it only makes the Playoffs go from 8 to 10 teams for ONE FREAKING GAME. It's not the end of the world. For teams that actually win the Division, this will not affect you. You start the ALDS and NLDS normally like you would have anyway.

Like I said, I usually have a problem with EVERYTHING, especially the shenanigans of Bud Selig.....but I have no problem with this.

There have been seasons where the Division winner and Wild Card winners have coasted out the last 2+ weeks of the season playing rookies and resting people. Now, the Wild Card won't be able to do that because they know they've got that elimination game coming up.

The Wild Card team doesn't deserve the privilege and right to coast out the last 2+ weeks of the season....they didn't finish first place.

This isn't some little league run by parents who all think their idiot kid is the best.....not everybody should get a trophy. First, Second, Third and Fourth are NOT the same thing, and they should NOT be treated the same.

This is like seeding in basketball and football....the teams with the best records SHOULD have the advantage because they EARNED it over the course of the season.

A rare good decision by Bud Selig. NOW GIVE ARMANDO GALARRAGA HIS PERFECT GAME AND REINSTATE PETE ROSE AND PUT HIM IN THE DAMN HALL OF FAME!

Understandable. But many people look at them being so dominant for 14 years, but only winning 1 World Series as a failure, similar to the Buffalo Bills. Surely you have heard these comparisons.

But I spent over a decade watching the Braves get pounded by the Reds, Dodgers, and Giants as well. I was very jealous of their success too.

**Waits for Lorenzo's rant about how pitchers shouldn't hit.**

Pitchers shouldn't hit. It's boring, they suck at it, and for the most part all it leads to is injuries.

A.J. Burnett is getting paid $16.5 million dollars to throw the baseball, not have it shatter his eye socket trying to bunt.

The NL needs to get with the times. The fact that they changed it in the All-Star game because it's so useless leads me to believe that in less than 5 years, you'll have the DH in the NL too.

Keep giving these pitchers huge contracts and keep having them get hurt batting and running the baselines and it's just going to be a risk that no owner is going to want to take.

There, happy?

That's different. Obviously if you're a fielder, you need to be able to at least hold your own at the plate. Unless there are designated fielders, those guys need to be able to bat.

But the bottom line is that the best NL pitcher puts up batting numbers worse than the crappiest bench player in the AL at hitting. What's the most RBI's a pitcher has ever put up in the NL and how often are numbers like that achieved? I'd be willing to guess not often.

More often than not, the pitcher is a K or a sac bunt. It's boring, they suck at hitting, and it just leads to injuries.

If Roy Halladay or Cliff Lee blow out their elbows batting or blow out an achillies running the bases and you finish in 3rd Place you'll change your tune.

I'm more than content having CC Sabathia, Michael Pineda and Freddy Garcia get 3 outs and then go sit their fat asses on the bench until it's time to go pitch again. Last thing I need is CC Sabathia running the bases, or Michael Pineda suffering a career ruining injury after we traded Montero for him like what happened to Chien-Ming Wang.

Now that they put the DH in the All-Star game even in NL parks, I wish they would make it permanent in both ballparks for Interleage too. I don't want my guys getting hurt hitting, running, or in A.J.'s case, practicing doing these things.

You can't compare fielders to pitchers. Position players are on the field every single day (essentially), starting pitchers pitch once every 5 days. Like it or not, the picture is the MOST important position on any baseball team. The game lives and dies by how well your pitcher is performing.

If Derek Jeter breaks his foot running the bases, there are 8 other batters on the team that can pick up his slack. If CC does the same thing there are not enough "ace" starting pitchers that can replace him. On top of that, pitchers put enough strains on their arms, shoulders, hips & legs throwing 100 pitches a game. They don't need to add swinging a bat & running bases to that.

Yea I know some pitchers say they like hitting (CC, D-Train, Arroyo, etc.) but it doesn't matter. Most pitchers are AWFUL hitters, and I like seeing my team SCORE RUNS. Not lay down sacrifice bunts. Not to mention being a DH extends careers of some guys.