MLB 2013 Season

[imalive]

8 pounds?!? that is disgusting. No wonder why most of this country is obese.

a pet peeve of mine also.....perpetuated by fat slobs like the man vs. food guy

[Monster Rain]

The Nationals are going to sell something called the Stras-burger at their concession stands this year. It weighs 8 pounds (including the toppings, but those are your usual cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, and "secret sauce"). I predict an episode of Man vs. Food in their future.

8 pounds?!? that is disgusting. No wonder why most of this country is obese.

the nats are talking wayyy too much for a team that can't even seem to finish above 500. They need to relax a bit...that organization's inferiority complex makes me embarrassed for them

I wonder if the talking there is just from the fact that they're excited to finally seem like a decent team or if there's some pressure from ownership to hype the team up in order to increase ticket sales.

[The Fixer]

The Nationals are going to sell something called the Stras-burger at their concession stands this year. It weighs 8 pounds (including the toppings, but those are your usual cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, and "secret sauce"). I predict an episode of Man vs. Food in their future.

8 pounds?!? that is disgusting. No wonder why most of this country is obese.

the nats are talking wayyy too much for a team that can't even seem to finish above 500. They need to relax a bit...that organization's inferiority complex makes me embarrassed for them

I wonder if the talking there is just from the fact that they're excited to finally seem like a decent team or if there's some pressure from ownership to hype the team up in order to increase ticket sales.

good point regarding ticket sales. I think davey johnson being an enormous blowhard has something to do with it as well

[The Fixer]

8 pounds?!? that is disgusting. No wonder why most of this country is obese.

a pet peeve of mine also.....perpetuated by fat slobs like the man vs. food guy

yeah, adam richman is a tool

I don't understand the desire to prove how much you can eat. 'Hey, look at how much I can eat and how fat I am'

[Monster Rain]

Apparently, the Nationals are marketing the Stras-burger as something people share, but a dietician estimated that even split 4 ways the burger would contain about 2,000 calories per person.

[Cliffy6745]

Sounds like there was a pretty serious collision between Upton and Jennings.

[The Fixer]

pretty cool article previewing the 2015 WS. Still can't believe rendon fell so far in the draft...nats got lucky there


CHICAGO—The 1986 Red Sox and 2011 Rangers are the only teams to get within one strike of winning the World Series and fail to close the deal.

After Calvin Schiraldi and Bill Buckner went down in infamy, Boston had to wait another 18 years to capture a championship. Texas won't have to endure nearly as long after David Freese broke its heart last October.

The Rangers are coming off consecutive American League pennants and their future looks even brighter. Texas returns most of its team from last year, having swapped out C.J. Wilson for a likely upgrade in Yu Darvish.

This is just the beginning. The Rangers have baseball's best farm system, with shortstop Jurickson Profar, lefthander Martin Perez and third baseman Mike Olt poised to make an impact. Beyond them lies a second wave of high-upside prospects, such as catcher Jorge Alfaro, third baseman Christian Villanueva and rightander Matt West.

Texas will start pocketing $80 million annually from a Fox Sports Southwest broadcast deal after the 2014 season. With its money and talent, the Rangers will be able to retain the players it wants and acquire anyone they desire on the trade and free-agent markets.

It's time for our annual three-years-ahead season preview column, and our crystal ball was clear: Texas will win it all in 2015.

Yankees Win Toughest Division

Sorting out the stacked AL East was much more difficult than anointing the Rangers as 2015 champions. The Yankees will prevail, fortified from within by youngsters such as lefthander Manny Banuelos, catcher/first baseman Gary Sanchez and outfielder Mason Williams and also by the free-agent signings of Felix Hernandez and Joakim Soria. But that won't be enough to get past Texas in the AL Championship Series.

The Red Sox will have to settle for the wild card, with outfielder Xander Bogaerts, third baseman Will Middlebrooks and catcher Blake Swihart spicing up the lineup and Anthony Ranaudo and Matt Barnes joining a homegrown rotation. The Blue Jays will finish a strong third as their young pitching hasn't quite settled into a groove in the majors, and the Rays (previously picked in this column to win it all in 2012 and '13 before losing to the Braves in the '14 World Series) won't have the depth to overcome their division rivals.

In the AL Central, the Royals will have a formidable offense with MVP Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas at the infield corners; Wil Myers, Bubba Starling, Alex Gordon in the outfield; and Billy Butler at DH. They will have enough pitching, with 2012 first-rounder Kevin Gausman and Jake Odorizzi at the front of its rotation, to outlast the Tigers.

The Angels won't beat out the Rangers in the AL West—Darvish does his part by winning the Cy Young Award—but Los Angeles will claim the second wild card. Mike Trout and second baseman Jean Segura will set the table for Albert Pujols and DH C.J. Cron, providing plenty of offense for Jered Weaver, Dan Haren and Wilson.

Snakes Capture NL Pennant

The Phillies still will be contenders three years from now, but age and a thinned-out farm system will combine to keep them in second place in the NL East and out of the playoffs. The Nationals will supplant them as the division's new power, with outfielder Bryce Harper and second baseman Anthony Rendon driving the offense and Cy Young Award winner Stephen Strasburg headlining a deep rotation of Jordan Zimmermann, Gio Gonzalez, Alex Meyer and Matt Purke.

The Reds will edge the Cardinals in the NL Central with an entirely homegrown lineup that features no easy outs (Devin Mesoraco at catcher; Joey Votto, Billy Hamilton, Zack Cozart and Todd Frazier around the infield; and 2012 first-rounder Albert Almora, Drew Stubbs and Jay Bruce in the outfield). Daniel Corcino gives Cincinnati a solid No. 3 starter behind Mat Latos and Johnny Cueto.

St. Louis builds its wild-card team in similar fashion, with homegrown products at seven of its eight lineup spots (including newcomers Kolten Wong at second, Zack Cox at third and Oscar Taveras in right field) and two more (Shelby Miller, Carlos Martinez) as the most electric arms on the pitching staff.

Out West, the Diamondbacks ride baseball's best rotation—Trevor Bauer, Tyler Skaggs, Archie Bradley, Ian Kennedy, Daniel Hudson—to a narrow division win over the Giants. NL MVP Justin Upton continues to drive the offense.

In San Francisco, the rotation remains built around Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain and Madison Bumgarner. Outfielders Brandon Belt and Gary Brown make sure Buster Posey doesn't have to carry the offense by himself, and that's enough to get into the playoffs.

Having Washington play a team that abandoned the nation's capital in the World Series would make for an interesting story, but the Nationals won't be able to get past the Diamondbacks' pitching in the NLCS. The Rangers' deeper lineup will be the difference in the World Series, and this time they won't let the championship slip away.

[Monster Rain]

Chipper Jones doesn't appear to be a fan of Bryce Harper (personality-wise, anyway). When asked if he'd seek out Harper to give him some advice on how to handle being a phenom at such a young age, Jones said, "No, I'm not going to seek him out unless he wants to sit down and talk--which I've done with othe rplayers before. Let's just say he doesn't seem to me to be the type of kid who wants to walk up to me and pick my brain."

http://www.fannation.com/truth_and_rumo ... for-harper

Mike Schmidt doesn't seem to like him much, either. He was quoted in a GQ article about Harper as saying, “I would think at some point the game itself, the competition on the field, is going to have to figure out a way to police this young man.”

http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/ ... interview/

[RW81233]

The Nationals are going to sell something called the Stras-burger at their concession stands this year. It weighs 8 pounds (including the toppings, but those are your usual cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, and "secret sauce"). I predict an episode of Man vs. Food in their future.

8 pounds?!? that is disgusting. No wonder why most of this country is obese.

the nats are talking wayyy too much for a team that can't even seem to finish above 500. They need to relax a bit...that organization's inferiority complex makes me embarrassed for them

i can't wait until the eagles start selling an 8 lb VICK-tory dog (oh the irony) and then you can post the same thing about that franchise

[The Fixer]

The Nationals are going to sell something called the Stras-burger at their concession stands this year. It weighs 8 pounds (including the toppings, but those are your usual cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, and "secret sauce"). I predict an episode of Man vs. Food in their future.

8 pounds?!? that is disgusting. No wonder why most of this country is obese.

the nats are talking wayyy too much for a team that can't even seem to finish above 500. They need to relax a bit...that organization's inferiority complex makes me embarrassed for them

i can't wait until the eagles start selling an 8 lb VICK-tory dog (oh the irony) and then you can post the same thing about that franchise

the eagles would only be able to sell that during the regular season. we all know vick doesn't win playoff games

I was talking more about the nats talking all kinds of shit than I was about the burger (which is still disgusting)

[imalive]

Chipper Jones doesn't appear to be a fan of Bryce Harper (personality-wise, anyway). When asked if he'd seek out Harper to give him some advice on how to handle being a phenom at such a young age, Jones said, "No, I'm not going to seek him out unless he wants to sit down and talk--which I've done with othe rplayers before. Let's just say he doesn't seem to me to be the type of kid who wants to walk up to me and pick my brain."

http://www.fannation.com/truth_and_rumo ... for-harper

Mike Schmidt doesn't seem to like him much, either. He was quoted in a GQ article about Harper as saying, “I would think at some point the game itself, the competition on the field, is going to have to figure out a way to police this young man.”

http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/ ... interview/

I was living in vegas when harper was at the community college....I had friends whose sons played against him....the consensus was he was pretty much of a prick. he's the kind of dude I would love to hate. we'll see if his mad skills translate at the MLB level...

[Monster Rain]

Chipper Jones doesn't appear to be a fan of Bryce Harper (personality-wise, anyway). When asked if he'd seek out Harper to give him some advice on how to handle being a phenom at such a young age, Jones said, "No, I'm not going to seek him out unless he wants to sit down and talk--which I've done with othe rplayers before. Let's just say he doesn't seem to me to be the type of kid who wants to walk up to me and pick my brain."

http://www.fannation.com/truth_and_rumo ... for-harper

Mike Schmidt doesn't seem to like him much, either. He was quoted in a GQ article about Harper as saying, “I would think at some point the game itself, the competition on the field, is going to have to figure out a way to police this young man.”

http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/ ... interview/

I was living in vegas when harper was at the community college....I had friends whose sons played against him....the consensus was he was pretty much of a prick. he's the kind of dude I would love to hate. we'll see if his mad skills translate at the MLB level...

The way he runs his mouth you'd think he'd been in the league for 10 years. He's got to know that he's going to draw the wrong kind of attention when he says things like he wants to knock the fielder into left field when he slides into 2nd base. I don't think he'll have to wait long after his debut before a veteran pitcher welcomes him to the league with a fastball to the ribs.

[Newch91]

Chipper Jones doesn't appear to be a fan of Bryce Harper (personality-wise, anyway). When asked if he'd seek out Harper to give him some advice on how to handle being a phenom at such a young age, Jones said, "No, I'm not going to seek him out unless he wants to sit down and talk--which I've done with othe rplayers before. Let's just say he doesn't seem to me to be the type of kid who wants to walk up to me and pick my brain."

http://www.fannation.com/truth_and_rumo ... for-harper

Mike Schmidt doesn't seem to like him much, either. He was quoted in a GQ article about Harper as saying, “I would think at some point the game itself, the competition on the field, is going to have to figure out a way to police this young man.”

http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/ ... interview/

I was living in vegas when harper was at the community college....I had friends whose sons played against him....the consensus was he was pretty much of a prick. he's the kind of dude I would love to hate. we'll see if his mad skills translate at the MLB level...

The way he runs his mouth you'd think he'd been in the league for 10 years. He's got to know that he's going to draw the wrong kind of attention when he says things like he wants to knock the fielder into left field when he slides into 2nd base. I don't think he'll have to wait long after his debut before a veteran pitcher welcomes him to the league with a fastball to the ribs.

I'm sure he'll charge the mound if he gets hit.

[Cliffy6745]

I get the feeling that he knows he's going to get drilled and doesn't give a shit. I'm not going to say I like this kid, but I can't wait to see him hit. It should be fun.

[Monster Rain]

Royals catcher Salvador Perez is going to miss 12-14 weeks after undergoing knee surgery today. They have high hopes for him so it's probably not a good day for them since they were hoping he wouldn't miss that much time.