|
|
Post by ESPNupdate on Jan 21, 2012 16:21:42 GMT -5
The Reds have had quite the off season. After first securing the talents of Cy Young winner Tadd O'Neil, they watched him jump ship to the Rangers. For those few brief months, the Reds looked like a potent match up for any team, including the Cardinals. With the loss of T.O., the Reds had to regroup and determine who would be pitching every third game.
With the ultimate demise of the Mets, Mike Curtin fell into the lap of the Reds. Curtin is a reliable and steady all-around player the Reds desperately needed. His bat in the line up will provide endless protection for the other young sluggers. Most importantly though, he rounds out a very polished rotation.
The addition of Curtin means CPD won't have to feel the pressure to pitch every third game, and can make spot starts to reset the rotation. Here's a look at the Red's new rotation:
#1- Zach Popp (4-1, 0.62 ERA)
#2- Nick Leffler (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
#3- Mike Curtin (0-5, 11.52 ERA)
Curtin had a tough year last season with the Mets. Lack of run support cost him a couple of games. The good news though, being lined up against the opposing teams #3 pitcher will mean more wins.
The Reds certainly moved up in the power rankings following this addition. They could very easily win the 2012 championship. Do you agree?
|
|
|
|
Post by Emerald City Assassin on Aug 26, 2012 16:02:19 GMT -5
to those 2 people who voted no...... OH, YOU DIDNT KNOW?? YOUR ASS BETTA CALL SOMEBODY!
|
|
|
|
Post by BK Broiler on Aug 28, 2012 10:03:43 GMT -5
The reds and rangers had nice runs in the post season. The reds completely surprised me.
I do think we should adjust the playoffs though. Re seeding should be an obvious thing but I don't agree with only the 1 and 2 seeds automatically advancing to the final 4. I love college basketball but the regular season is meaning less and this year in the HFWB the regular season was infact meaningless. In my opinon baseball does it perfect. 1/3 of the teams make the post season. I'm not saying we have to go that low but 80% is to much
|
|
|
|
Post by G20four on Aug 28, 2012 11:49:22 GMT -5
I don't think the regular season was meaningless... you had a couple of teams battling it out at different points throughout the year to try and get better seeding. The play-offs were set up the way they were to give teams who perhaps aren't elite a fighting chance, and to speed up the pace of the play-offs. If you decrease the amount of teams who have a shot to make it to the post-season you're going to decrease interest in the league that much sooner. If we had more teams you would see that percentage drop. But when you're dealing with 10 teams as opposed to 30 there has to be a difference in play-off format. What you want to just get rid of Super Sunday and have only 4 teams make the play-offs? You would have the same teams in the play-offs almost every year and teams would be dropping faster then they seem to be this off-season.
|
|
|
|
Post by BK Broiler on Aug 28, 2012 13:34:22 GMT -5
I disagree gar. It was pretty clear the Phillies were not making it and the cubs had injuries and a slow start that took them out pretty fast. The Phillies are coming back. Burke and Sheldon def want to play and possibly other cubs too. This isn't tee ball where everyone wins. We get 20 games to play. All the playoffs did for 6 teams was assure 1 more game. The rangers weren't even .500 in the regular season yet they were a game away from winning it all. Now thats great in its own way but the regular season was definitely meaningless.
Make it 6 teams that get in. It don't have to be 4 but the regular season should mean more. This league has done more then enough to make it easier for weaker teams and players. It shouldnt come down to one game for a team that played great in the regular season. This isn't football or college basketball. Its a game where a series should determine the better team. At the very least reseed. The 3 seed had no possible chance at playing the 8 seed. I know the NHL recently changed over to that format and the NBA is sure to follow
|
|
|
|
Post by BK Broiler on Aug 28, 2012 13:45:00 GMT -5
I know the MLB just switched to a one game format for wild cards but they also just awarded 6 division winners, making the regular season very meaningful. Maybe we go back to divisions?
Just throwing ideas out there to get ideas rolling. Thats why a committee will be awesome. Mixed opinions and ideas. Democracy works
|
|
|
|
Post by Buster Olney on Aug 28, 2012 17:23:39 GMT -5
i disagree that the reg season meant nothing. if the brewers had won 2 more games they might have been in the world series, if the reds had won 2 less theres as good shot they wouldnt have made it out of super sunday. i do agree that it shouldnt come down to one game, at least not for high seeds like 3 and 4. im sure we'll figure out a better system this offseason
|
|
|
|
Post by BK Broiler on Aug 28, 2012 18:14:48 GMT -5
To me its the same thing as what college bball is. It means something trying to get in and get seeded high but say Kentucky had an injured Anthony Davis in the middle of the season. They would of felt fine resting him till the tourney and getting a lower seed. Just like what the rangers did.
I'm not angry with the system we had this year. It was great. Had a blast this year. But we could do somethings to improve.
|
|
|
|
Post by Tim Kurkjian on Aug 28, 2012 19:13:49 GMT -5
the regular season certainly meant alot. The Rays and Reds went down to the wire for that first round bye. Could've been totally different playoffs if it panned out the other way. MLB is adding a one game play in this season so there will be a team or two that deserved it more than the other but got boned, thats the beauty of it in my opinion. A team like the rangers fell on their face early, but they always had the tools to be a contender. I had them in the series no matter what before they had a string of unfortunate luck. The regular season was not meaningless, all the teams that made it deserved to make it. & with such a short season it kind of blows to miss the playoffs.
|
|
|
|
Post by BK Broiler on Aug 28, 2012 19:29:12 GMT -5
20 games is a short season? Thats pretty much a varsity baseball season. Aussy I wish we got the 4 seed lol. That should tell you something. This regular season had no divisions and only the one and two seeds were worth getting. I'm just saying there were 3 teams that played well in the regular season. The reds in my opinion fell short. The rangers too. Injuries of course played at part with them. The rays did better then expected. The tigers didn't play as well as I thought they could have. Everyone else did what I expected. I personally still think the cards, braves, and brewers had the best rosters and the regular season proved that.
I like the fact that we had excitement in super sunday but if your telling me you can go 9-11 and win a world series, your lieing to your self saying the regular season meant something.
|
|
|
|
Post by BK Broiler on Aug 28, 2012 19:34:33 GMT -5
How is anyone getting boned in the MLB format? Win your division and your set. Who cares if your division is tougher then others? Al and nl east fans always bitch about that and its ridiculous because the amount of fans on the east coast outweighs the rest of the country so the amount of revenue being generated by those teams are higher. I'd love if the indians were still in the al east. They would be forced to spend more or scout better like the Rays.
|
|
|
|
Post by BK Broiler on Aug 28, 2012 19:36:48 GMT -5
Like I said before, the playoff format right now only got you one extra game for teams 3-8. So the short season everyone deserves to make it thing is dumb
|
|
|
|
Post by joshmuthafkinlongo on Aug 29, 2012 10:25:35 GMT -5
I agree with BK...you have to draw the line at some point with 80 percent of the league making the playoffs. Its nice to get more teams extra games but like BK said, really it was only just 1 so again whats the point.
It allows flukes to happen more easily becauses its a one game playoff as opposed to 3 or 5 game. I dont think thats fair for a team like the Brewers who worked hard all year, put up a great win percentage and then everything lies on one game...a team like us who didnt care about our record knew we'd get in the playoffs regardless so we rested tadd all year to basically pitch in the playoffs lol...talk about unfair lol but it is what it is.
It made the regular season kind of ptless for 3-8 in the playoffs..for the most part
The shootout was great for playoff scheduing tho....heres the day of the shootout....be there or your forfeiting. Then only 3 series had to be scheduled from there which just made life easier.
We eliminated having to schedule 7 playoff series to just 3 series with a day tournament. I will say the shootout needs to go or just have that first round happen 5v8 6v7 and then 3 game series for the next two until WS is 5...
But really...I think with 10 teams, 6 should make the playoffs with 2 getting a bye from here out..
|
|
|
|
Post by BK Broiler on Aug 29, 2012 11:27:43 GMT -5
Finally me and Josh agree lol. The rangers played it smart this year. I give them a lot of credit. I believe Omar also said it wasn't fair for a one game showdown for the higher seeds. I think everything was fair, but would just like to reward regular season accomplishments more. A division title or high seed should mean something more then facing a well rested t.o in a one game show down.
The cubs have talent. The Phillies are young and will become better. I think a team like the cards will probably always make the playoffs but isn't that how it is in the sports we watch? Yankees, Lakers, Red Wings, Patriots, etc always make the playoffs. It doesn't make the league any worse having teams like that. Infact it probably makes it better. I could of seen a team like my brewers this season having a much worse record. We won a bunch of close games that could of gone the other way easily. My point is imagine how entertaining the rangers games would of been towards the middle of the year not just the end. I think the race for the 6th seed would of been great this year with the Dodgers, Rays, tigers, and rangers all fighting for it. Great teams on paper can easily have injuries or bad seasons leading to great regular season matchups.
Again I'm just throwing out ideas. Whats best for the league will come in a majority vote, hopefully. I've just never been a fan of everyone wins or gets in kind if thing. You can bet your ass I kept track of the score in teeball and let the other team know it. I smashed my second place trophy in my last year of majors. I know I'm too competitive but thats me competition is fun for me win or lose. If most of the league disagrees with me I will respect that.
|
|
|
|
Post by G20four on Aug 29, 2012 11:43:23 GMT -5
I'm not saying that we can't, or shouldn't tweak the play-off format, but I don't think the regular season was meaningless at all... well not for everyone anyway. Like Aussy said the Brewers were fighting for that 2 seed which could have made a huge difference for them, and the Reds and Rays were battling it out for the 4 seed and the first round bye on super Sunday. Does it suck to have a team like the Brewers go out the way they did? It sure does, but at the same time that was kind of a fluke anyway. I just feel like you need to keep it at least interesting for the bottom tier teams. Even if you do what Longo suggested and keep the top 4 teams out of SS and have the bottom 4 teams in on SS... I'm sure something can be put together which would make everybody happy.
We really do need to somehow get new blood into the league though. The veteran teams keep merging and eventually the league will die out if we can't find a way to attract new teams.
|
|
