tornadocam : I love sports writing, so if you want to do soemthing like that I think you should, I used to be a digital SPorts Journalist and it was so much fun.

So I was reading an article today on new York Mets trades within the division and I find it idiotic as to how many prospect pitchers they have sent away who have all eventually became something.

I find it hard to believe that AJ Burnett, Scott Kazmir, and Yusmeiro Petit have all started with the Mets, as well as a few others.

Man...if feels like the Atlanta Braves are going to take literally a million steps back this year. First, they traded Jason Heyward to the Cardinals for a starting pitcher...then, Justin Upton went to the Padres...and now, yesterday Evan Gattis went to the Astros, and guess what the Braves got in return? More pitchers! I swear, it seems the Braves think they can win baseball games 0 - 0. Looks like the NL East this upcoming year will see nothing but the Nationals and quite possibly the Marlins. In my opinion, I don't think any of the other teams in the division will do anything this year.

MattyIce : Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if the Braves and Phillies compete for the bottom two spots.

MattyIce :

Maybe, but those moves were fantastic, and I think it'll be a case of one step back, two steps forward.

Shelby Miller (who they got for Heyward) is fantastic, and they got him for a year of Heyward, who is a free agent at the end of the year. Upton is also a free agent and they got good prospects in return. And their return for Gattis was way better than expected.

The Braves made a lot of great moves this off-season, although they will likely struggle this year.

Today, the Baseball Hall of Fame announced the news we've been waiting to hear...

Randy Johnson will go into the HoF with a Diamondbacks cap, not a Mariners one.

This is the right choice. He was absolutely dominant in Arizona. Seattle will have to wait for Griffey Jr.

Sweet, this is just what I wanted to hear, Arizona definitely deserves this.

legacmy3: You are kidding me? As a Diamondback? Not a Mariner? Well, there goes the rest of the Seattle fans that he has. 

Can you link me what you found? 

   The Washington Nationals just gave Max Scherzer a huge deal, which will be $210 for 7 years, seeming to be one year more than others have offered. They seemed to also do everything they could to keep it spread out as much as possible as well. There's a $50 million signing bonus, unspecified when it will be payed out, and will receive $15 million a year for the next 14 years. Although he was the best free market pitcher this year, that seems like a lof for a guy who, although strikes guys out and wins games, has thrown one complete game, and usually will give you seven strong. But with that, the Nats now have what looks to arguably be the strongest rotation in the MLB. You have Stephen Strasburg, Jordan Zimmermann, Gio Gonzalez and Doug Fister (another former Tiger, no less), and adding a Cy Young winner into that mix will make this a dominating lignup. 

patar4097 : The Mariners have a pretty darn good rotation too. You have to admit that. 

The Nationals easily have the best rotation in baseball now, there's only a few teams who can come close to them in terms of pitching staff. I am going to hate them now, but who knows, maybe the NL will kick him around every once in a while.

  Well, that didn't take too long for me to not like the new baseball commissioner, which I'll get to in a bit. So, they seem to be trying to shorten the lengths of games because of how long the games are getting now, which makes sense. Things like replays add time, but I still think that's better than sticking with the original call. And one thing that they're trying first in the minor league is adding a pitching clock. I personally like it. It makes sure that they can't sit on the mound forever before throwing the ball.
   But here's the problem. The commissioner wants more offensive play as well. Considering that would make games longer, I don't see one or the other working out as well as they want. So, the real issue here is the commissioner is considering eliminating the defensive shift. You know, the thing teams do to get players who hit the ball to one side of the field 70% out more.
    I think this is insane. First off, how would they enforce this? Would they have boxes on the field the players have to stay in? Would they still be able to put the third baseman in for a bunt, move the middle infielders into a double play position? What football defenses weren't allowed to put the safeties back 40 yards on Hail Mary shots, or offenses could only run shotgun plays? It limits what lineups can do that clearly help them, and I think if players that get shifted on want to get more hits, maybe you should hit it towards the huge gap at 3rd base where nobody is.

patar4097 : Yeah... not being able to shift is stupid. I mean, I'm not nearly as religious about baseball as I am about football, but that would be way to much. Hell, people would start calling for his head MORE than football fans are calling for Goodell's. 

Banning shifts is a terrible idea, baseball is supposed to be strategic. Since when does the commissioner feel the game needs more offense anyway? I thought his main focus was on finding ways to shorten games.

Andruw Jones wants to return to the MLB and i'm a pretty good fan of him. Apparently there are two teams who are interested in signing him. If he didnt leave MLB for 2 seasons, he could have had a really good shot at hitting 500 Home runs. If he plays one season, he should finish with 450 Home Runs and 2000 hits.

legacyme3 : Don't know when it happened, and  don't know what exactly the contract entails, but Seager got his multi-year extension. 

I was scrolling through my Facebook feed and found something saying why the Mariners are finally a legit contender for their division. 

thing1 :

The Mariners are a legit contender, but it's less because of what they've done, and more because the Rangers and Astros suck, the A's blew up their entire roster, and the Angels continue to go after the wrong guys.

The Mariners are actually my pick to win the division as of right now, and they'll likely be the worst playoff team in the playoffs, unless a surprise team sneaks in.

legacyme3 : Yeah, the article mentioned the other teams in the division having issues. XD 

   Since the offseason is over, and the regular season starting in about a week, I'm going to close this thread. All further MLB discussion will go into this thread. At this point, I'm hoping the Tigers are competing for the division, because with the improvements from the other teams, and some of our big losses, I think this will be a much tougher season to get into the postseason for the Tigers.

~Closed~