darren o'day announced his retirement. pretty solid career, great run w/ the o's on their early-mid teens playoff teams (6th in career appearances). loved that sidearm motion.
― j.q higgins, Wednesday, 1 February 2023 01:07 (one year ago) link
last active player drafted by the expos . . . tom brady
― mookieproof, Wednesday, 1 February 2023 14:55 (one year ago) link
jason kipnis
― na (NA), Monday, 20 February 2023 20:52 (one year ago) link
neither is unexpected, but lorenzo cain and mitch moreland are retiring. moreland more of a confirmation after not playing last year, and cain will retire this summer in kansas city, despite starting and ending his career in milkwaukee.
― z_tbd, Wednesday, 8 March 2023 20:41 (one year ago) link
i always liked cain - fun player
― na (NA), Wednesday, 8 March 2023 20:45 (one year ago) link
considering how solid and well rounded a player he was at his peak, I'm surprised he was only an all star twice. great combo of hit/on-base, speed, glove with a dash of power.
― FRAUDULENT STEAKS (The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall), Wednesday, 8 March 2023 21:11 (one year ago) link
The classic Amos Otis/Bernie Williams does-everything-well (but-nothing-spectacular) player who's underrated as a result. Ends his career with over 5.0 bWAR/162 games.
― clemenza, Wednesday, 8 March 2023 21:24 (one year ago) link
should have probably should have won some more gold gloves. he had a bunch of fielding bible awards.
― j.q higgins, Thursday, 9 March 2023 15:38 (one year ago) link
from 2012-2015, matt harvey went 25-18, 2.53, 427 IP, 449 K, ERA+ 146 and made $1.719m
from 2016 on, matt harvey went 25-48, 5.92, 539 IP, 418 K, ERA+ 72 and made $26.2m
i mean i'm glad matt harvey got paid, but the trend line is not unlike that of an NFL running back (which is a whole other example of massive exploitation). and maybe starters aren't actually that different from RBs
― mookieproof, Saturday, 6 May 2023 05:17 (ten months ago) link
cole hamels, hall of the pretty good-er
― mookieproof, Friday, 4 August 2023 23:42 (seven months ago) link
60~ war in 13~ seasons, I’d give him hall of very VERY good personally
― hrep (H.P), Saturday, 5 August 2023 00:11 (seven months ago) link
i almost said 'pretty *damn* good-er' but chose not to because phillies
― mookieproof, Saturday, 5 August 2023 00:19 (seven months ago) link
Sad he couldn’t get it back together, would have been an amazing story to see him have a verlander-esquire revival with the Padres
― hrep (H.P), Saturday, 5 August 2023 00:47 (seven months ago) link
At a certain point, I started to group Hamels, Jon Lester, and John Lackey together; I figured one would break through and make the HOF. The two Jo(h)ns pair up well, but Hamels was clearly better.
In honor of the two Jo(h)ns:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZGSYjRsf5k
― clemenza, Saturday, 5 August 2023 04:58 (seven months ago) link
i regret having (even vaguely?) cast shade upon cole hamels, because jon lackey is maybe my least favorite player of this millennium
incredible prick, spent his entire career being like first of all the umps are fucking me, and secondly, my teammates suck because they don't catch every single ball
honestly fuck that guy forever
― mookieproof, Saturday, 5 August 2023 05:36 (seven months ago) link
Excuse me for saying so, but one of the rare occasions where you absolutely can judge a book by its cover. First time I saw his face my immediate thoughts were something along the lines of “I bet that bloke is absolutely 0 fun to be around”
― hrep (H.P), Saturday, 5 August 2023 05:39 (seven months ago) link
Bartolo Colon retiring next month as a Met. Should have retired him at this year home run derby with a special side-show event titled “He drives it, deep left field”. Still mad the league got rid of pitchers hitting, they should have got rid of the DH instead.
― hrep (H.P), Saturday, 5 August 2023 05:44 (seven months ago) link
Don't remember a thing about him other than a general consistency in his year-over-year record...which was less impressive than I'd remembered looking at it now.
You could throw Colon and Buehrle and even, to a degree, Sabathia in there. They were all kind of old-school.
― clemenza, Saturday, 5 August 2023 05:46 (seven months ago) link
Speaking of great home runs, the image of Hamel that sticks in my mind the most (sadly) is the shot of him sitting alone, stoic expression, as the camera shakes back and froth from the Roger Centre rumble following Bautista’s home run. He obviously had much better things to be remembered by, but that shot is a work of art and a great encapsulation of why baseball is the best sport
― hrep (H.P), Saturday, 5 August 2023 05:51 (seven months ago) link
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/8uqipCV1ifImqE6orZx4BNfPAlEZLys8rwLz7TjlDxK7OsUTQnBxitWtvU5g9vOm9eW4p2K09c4JG1bvRcwvv_AK4z57WKdqC1X3htMM1-TmHvsglqKoOm7-pwCVTgRt5Y8sIv_B
― hrep (H.P), Saturday, 5 August 2023 05:59 (seven months ago) link
Followed by this Mona Lisa expression
https://imgur.com/a/RNrQHpA
― hrep (H.P), Saturday, 5 August 2023 06:02 (seven months ago) link
https://i.imgur.com/GB6Qo2e.jpg
― hrep (H.P), Saturday, 5 August 2023 06:03 (seven months ago) link
BREAKING: Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg will retire. The World Series MVP and former No. 1 pick in the draft, who couldn't overcome complications from thoracic outlet syndrome, is tentatively planning a September announcement. (w @dougherty_jesse)https://t.co/DM33q5F4J5— Barry Svrluga (@barrysvrluga) August 24, 2023
― ydkb (gyac), Thursday, 24 August 2023 18:26 (seven months ago) link
All gave some, some gave all.
― citation needed (Steve Shasta), Thursday, 24 August 2023 18:50 (seven months ago) link
He's giving up a lot of money by retiring, That run in 2019 was really special though.
― NoTimeBeforeTime, Thursday, 24 August 2023 22:53 (seven months ago) link
warning, stats:
he retires with 1470 IP and a career FIP of 3.02. for pitchers with 1400+ IP since integration, that's the 12th best FIP. the top 15 is a fun list (i think):
koufaxbob vealekershawj.r. richardgibsonpedrosalerollie fingersdean chancenolandrysdalestrasbergseavermarichalhoyt wilhelm
― i really like that!! (z_tbd), Thursday, 24 August 2023 23:30 (seven months ago) link
i still keep fucking up the hide function, my apologies. i tried
https://i.imgur.com/sub9ItL.png
― i really like that!! (z_tbd), Thursday, 24 August 2023 23:31 (seven months ago) link
??? It worked.
I thought at first this thread would be about ILXers who have retired.
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Thursday, 24 August 2023 23:33 (seven months ago) link
Pretty sure he keeps the money because it’s an injury retirement. Saw a sad tweet about him not being able to hold his kids or even open doors with the injury. Wish him all the best
― H.P, Friday, 25 August 2023 00:57 (seven months ago) link
I used Bob Veale in Immaculate Grid yesterday--benefitted from his era, but really good forgotten pitcher.
― clemenza, Friday, 25 August 2023 01:41 (seven months ago) link
Adam Jones
― brimstead, Friday, 25 August 2023 19:20 (seven months ago) link
https://x.com/sixers/status/1695435045291401653?s=46&t=56pvpJvqL5GRtMdLh4N49g
― frogbs, Saturday, 26 August 2023 16:37 (seven months ago) link
Lol whoops
― frogbs, Saturday, 26 August 2023 16:38 (seven months ago) link
It the Orioles were to get to the WS, they should bring back Jones and Markakis and any other stalwarts from the '00 teams for a pre-game ceremony, when they never reached .500 even once. Jones was a very good, consistent player.
― clemenza, Saturday, 26 August 2023 17:13 (seven months ago) link
Bartolo Colon is officially retiring as a Met.
― NoTimeBeforeTime, Sunday, 17 September 2023 18:08 (six months ago) link
Sean Doolittle
pic.twitter.com/De0lzs0TQs— Sean Doolittle (@whatwouldDOOdo) September 22, 2023
― ydkb (gyac), Friday, 22 September 2023 16:26 (six months ago) link
Nelson Cruz. Announced on Adam Jones podcast.
― mojo dojo casas house (gyac), Thursday, 2 November 2023 18:17 (four months ago) link
Perfect (ironic) timing: one day after the Rangers win. He was central to 2011, mostly for his phenomenal hitting, a little bit to a ball he probably should have caught. (Again, NoTime--I was wrong!)
― clemenza, Thursday, 2 November 2023 22:12 (four months ago) link
didn’t the 09 ws end with him striking out looking?
― brimstead, Thursday, 2 November 2023 22:17 (four months ago) link
sorry, 2010
Swinging I would have said? He did however score the only Rangers run in that game, a bottom of the 7th homer off Timmyhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wk5pGUEOMn8
― mojo dojo casas house (gyac), Thursday, 2 November 2023 22:42 (four months ago) link
Here's the non-catch from 2011 (scored a triple for Freese). Hard to say--a lot of guys would have caught it, but not everyone by any means. I don't feel like going back into the thread, but the joke is that I said it would be remembered for a long time, something that would stay with Cruz for his career. At the time, Nelson Cruz was 31 years old and had hit 106 career home runs.
He went on to hit 358 more. And no one talks about the play anymore.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEEOZpdp9bo
― clemenza, Friday, 3 November 2023 01:21 (four months ago) link
Fantasy mainstay Michael Brantley.
― citation needed (Steve Shasta), Friday, 5 January 2024 18:13 (two months ago) link
Two-time Cy Young winner Corey Kluber announces his retirement. Klubot had an exceptional career.— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) February 9, 2024
― Roman Anthony gets on his horse (gyac), Friday, 9 February 2024 15:38 (one month ago) link
Definitely a great pitcher, for half a decade he was arguably the best in the American League (Verlander was his main competition.) He got a pretty late start, had his breakthrough first full season / Cy Young award-winning year at age 28. He started three games in the world series against the Cubs, he was great in the first two and the Cubs were lucky to beat him up a bit in game 7. Definitely a Hall of Fame talent, if not a Hall of Fame career.
― omar little, Friday, 9 February 2024 16:46 (one month ago) link
If he'd won a third Cy, would have been very interesting re the HOF.
― clemenza, Friday, 9 February 2024 17:16 (one month ago) link
During Corey Kluber's peak of 2013-2018:He threw his Kluberball (or whatever we're calling his breaker) 3,690 times, including playoffs..120/.134/.193 against44% swing-and-miss rate49 XBH, or one every 75 times he threw it+113 run valuejust a legendary pitch pic.twitter.com/p4knrk4z8c— Mike Petriello (@mike_petriello) February 9, 2024
― mookieproof, Saturday, 10 February 2024 00:18 (one month ago) link
One of the first pitchers I actually watched/registered the name of when getting into baseball as an adult. Was very confused as I got back into the sport why everyone didn't just throw the weird sinking ball that he did, looked so effective you know? What a stretch he had
― H.P, Saturday, 10 February 2024 02:37 (one month ago) link
Rob Manfred (in 2029).
― NoTimeBeforeTime, Saturday, 17 February 2024 06:10 (one month ago) link
Manfred bristles whenever people suggest he doesn't like baseball and that he's hostile to fans but then he drops shit like "hey, Oakland fans aren't losing baseball; the Giants are still in the Bay Area" and it's clear that the criticisms of him are vastly understated.— Craig Calcaterra (@craigcalcaterra) February 16, 2024
tbf manfred's job is, and always has been, explicitly to make more money for the owners. (as are the jobs of roger goodell, adam silver and gary bettman.) none of them 'care about the game' beyond weighing short-term profits for the owners vs long-term profits for the owners
north american pro sports are awfully lucrative so it's hard to imagine such a scenario, but these commissioners/owners would absolutely pull a coyote vs. acme deal if it made them money tomorrow
― mookieproof, Saturday, 17 February 2024 07:09 (one month ago) link