[BigSlick]

Mike LansWho, on 01 November 2010 - 10:00 PM, said:

Sig worthy.

Only if it has spoilers.

[yazgoesbacklooksupitsgone]

acr, on 01 November 2010 - 10:53 PM, said:

Edgar Renteria winning the MVP on a team that would've finished 4th in the AL East

Even Bud Selig wouldn't be so crazy as to realign the divisions to put San Francisco in the eastern division.

And based on regular season records, they would have finished 3rd in the AL East, three games ahead of Boston. They would have won the AL West, two games ahead of Texas.

To say the Giants wouldn't have finished 4th in the
AL East implies they were an inferior team to the toronto Blue jays. That's either uninformed or just plain crazy. Yes, the Giants were middle of the pack offensively, but they had the best pitching in baseball this year.
They played near .700 ball in September to edge out the Padres down the stretch, beat the Braves in 4, the Phillies in 6 and the Rangers in 5. I have no doubts that if the Yankees made the WS instead of Tex, the outcome would have been the same. There was nothing fluky about this team.

[Mike LansWho]

yazgoesbacklooksupitsgone, on 02 November 2010 - 01:28 PM, said:

To say the Giants wouldn't have finished 4th in the AL East implies they were an inferior team to the toronto Blue jays. That's either uninformed or just plain crazy. Yes, the Giants were middle of the pack offensively, but they had the best pitching in baseball this year.

Perhaps, but they'd have to face the Red Sox, Yankees and Rays 18 times each. Those are the top 3 run scorers in all of ML baseball for 2010. San Francisco was 17th in runs scored for the MLB while their division competition looks like this: Colorado - 8th, LA - 21st, San Diego - 22nd. I will grant you that San Fran did have the best pitching in the Majors going by ERA, but just look at those NL West offenses.

BTW - Toronto was 9th in total runs scored.

While acr makes a statement that does seem like hyperbole, it's probably really not that far off. Regardless, they won their division and made it happen in the postseason. I agree with your last statement, nothing fluky about them.

[roidrage]

yazgoesbacklooksupitsgone, on 02 November 2010 - 01:28 PM, said:

Even Bud Selig wouldn't be so crazy as to realign the divisions to put San Francisco in the eastern division.

And based on regular season records, they would have finished 3rd in the AL East, three games ahead of Boston. They would have won the AL West, two games ahead of Texas.

To say the Giants wouldn't have finished 4th in the
AL East implies they were an inferior team to the toronto Blue jays. That's either uninformed or just plain crazy. Yes, the Giants were middle of the pack offensively, but they had the best pitching in baseball this year.
They played near .700 ball in September to edge out the Padres down the stretch, beat the Braves in 4, the Phillies in 6 and the Rangers in 5. I have no doubts that if the Yankees made the WS instead of Tex, the outcome would have been the same. There was nothing fluky about this team.

You know better than to let pesky things like facts get in the way of a good acr rant/whine/tantrum.

[JMDurron]

yazgoesbacklooksupitsgone, on 02 November 2010 - 01:28 PM, said:

Even Bud Selig wouldn't be so crazy as to realign the divisions to put San Francisco in the eastern division.

And based on regular season records, they would have finished 3rd in the AL East, three games ahead of Boston. They would have won the AL West, two games ahead of Texas.

To say the Giants wouldn't have finished 4th in the
AL East implies they were an inferior team to the toronto Blue jays. That's either uninformed or just plain crazy. Yes, the Giants were middle of the pack offensively, but they had the best pitching in baseball this year.
They played near .700 ball in September to edge out the Padres down the stretch, beat the Braves in 4, the Phillies in 6 and the Rangers in 5. I have no doubts that if the Yankees made the WS instead of Tex, the outcome would have been the same. There was nothing fluky about this team.

You can't just copy/paste their record from the NL West to the AL East and act like you've proven anything. Over 162 games, I'm not convinced that the Giants would have done better than the Blue Jays in the AL East, partly because the Giants team that won the World Series was a work in progress over the course of the season. The current Giants roster over 162 games probably does finish ahead of Boston and Toronto, but I'm not convinced that the actual Giants as they were actually constructed (Sandoval is presumably their DH for the whole season, so their defense would have improved sooner) would have finished above Toronto or Boston. If you adjust for strength of schedule, it becomes much more reasonable than "uninformed or just plain crazy."

[acr]

The Giants outplayed 2 good teams in the playoffs, so I'm not saying they're a total fraud, I'm just bitter that the Red Sox didn't get a chance to play playoff baseball because they were in the same division as the two of the best teams in baseball.

[The Ghost of Ned Martin]

acr, on 04 November 2010 - 08:33 PM, said:

The Giants outplayed 2 good teams in the playoffs, so I'm not saying they're a total fraud, I'm just bitter that the Red Sox didn't get a chance to play playoff baseball because they were in the same division as the two of the best teams in baseball.

I hear what you are saying but let's remember that Theo Epstein has so much more in salary Rays front office. I would think Tampa has many more reasons to curse their divisional placement that the Sox or Yankees do.

[Mike LansWho]

The Ghost of Ned Martin, on 05 November 2010 - 05:17 AM, said:

I hear what you are saying but let's remember that Theo Epstein has so much more in salary Rays front office. I would think Tampa has many more reasons to curse their divisional placement that the Sox or Yankees do.

I hear what you are saying but let's remember that the Rays have won the division 2 out of the last 3 years.

[acr]

The Rays tanked for ten years and have like 6 consecutive #1 draft picks in their core, **** them.

[JMDurron]

acr, on 04 November 2010 - 08:33 PM, said:

The Giants outplayed 2 good teams in the playoffs, so I'm not saying they're a total fraud, I'm just bitter that the Red Sox didn't get a chance to play playoff baseball because they were in the same division as the two of the best teams in baseball.

I share your frustration, but the late-September Red Sox roster was not better than the playoff rosters of the Yankees, Rangers, Giants, or Phillies. We would have had a shot at taking down the Rays or Twins, and almost certainly beaten the Braves or Reds, but I think that this is a case where the team that we ended the season with really could not have gone all the way. Not with a 2-man rotation, 2-man bullpen, and 4 of the starting 9 out of the lineup.

Now, if you want to talk about the healthy version of the 2010 Red Sox, then yes, that team could have stomped or at least beaten any other team in the league.

[BigSlick]

JMDurron, on 08 November 2010 - 09:39 AM, said:

Now, if you want to talk about the healthy version of the 2010 Red Sox, then yes, that team could have stomped or at least beaten any other team in the league.

Which is why I can't remember a year where I was so anxious for the off-season to end. The next 5 months are going to be excruciatingly slow.

This post has been edited by BigSlick: 08 November 2010 - 09:42 AM

[JMDurron]

BigSlick, on 08 November 2010 - 09:42 AM, said:

Which is why I can't remember a year where I was so anxious for the off-season to end. The next 5 months are going to be excruciatingly slow.

The tragedy is that we will never get that roster back, so even next year has a reduced chance of awesomeness. At best, we'll get one of Beltre and Martinez back, but not both. Varitek might be gone, and he was doing great as the backup C before he and Victor got hurt. Lowrie could have replaced Scutaro if Pedroia had not been hurt when Lowrie was called up, making the lineup and defense even better while keeping Scutaro from having to play so much with a busted rotator cup. Ellsbury and Cameron, although I can't prove this, would have significantly helped pitchers who can't strike people out anymore like Lackey and Matsuzaka. It's not fair at all, but that's baseball for you.