Baseball Needs Jeff Suppan

DOUGHBOYS · Post by **DOUGHBOYS** » Mon May 23, 2011 5:43 am

I hate to say it, and God forbid my wife from hearing it, but I am a little bored with baseball this year.

Some of my earlier posts reflected how pitching has taken over this year, it is no fun delving deeper into that part of baseball.

At the same time, I do not miss the steroid era.

Sosa, Bonds, and McGwire were like those Giants playing against Bugs Bunny in his baseball cartoon. Only there wasn't anybody as sneaky or as athletic to defend against those monsters like Bugs.

Only 10 teams in baseball have an E.R.A. over four. None are over five. There are two or three shut outs a day. 101 is the total.

In one of the best hitters parks in baseball, with two of the best hitting teams (is there such a thing?), the Rangers and Phillies scored nine runs in a three game series. Zzzzzz.

Broadcasters always say they like a good pitching duel. Of course, these are time driven comments. Pitchers duels make for quicker games and the broadcasters only put in a couple of hours.

I even like a good pitching duel, but enough already!

I want to see bombs, towering shots, and lasers,

So, what do we have?

We have daily stats like .260/3/1/4/0 that we used to sneer at, now met with semi-approval.

We have guys like Charlie Morton, Bud Norris, Jason Vargas, and Jason Marquis being as, or more useful than Francisco Liriano, Ubaldo Jimenez, John Lester, or CC Sabathia.

If we thought the slant was taking hitters early in the last draft this year, we haven't seen nothing yet. Pitchers in the 20th round may do the job of a third rounder. That, changes things. But, at the same time, which hitters are for real?

Ive seen Evan Longoria and Joe Mauer in commercials more than on the field.

For baseball fans, not well played, Mauer.

Philadelphia's front four isn't talked about much anymore, because EVERY staff seems to have two to four starters who are doing a swell job.

The inventory of starting pitchers have widened and power hitting is on life support.

We are like gold miners, we see flashes and sparkles like the three home run game from Carlos Beltran or a game from Bautista, but when we put our shovels in the ground to mine for more, we come up empty.

A lot of folks think we need more Jose Bautista's.

Nah.

What we need is more Vin Mazzaro's. He went against the grain. He let us have a taste of what could be. Pitcher's like Volquez, and Vazquez are trying to keep hope, but they have little company..

Not enough pitchers are getting hurt this year, while far too many hitters are obliquing our fantasy teams..

Bring up Dontrelle Willis. Bring up Brandon Webb. Bring up Aaron Cook. Bring back Jeff Suppan. Bring back Jamie Moyer. Bring in Tommy LaSorda.

The Cubs have done their part in bringing up Doug Davis. Thank God for the Cubs. Never a disappointment.

I promise not to badmouth these types of pitchers again. They play an important role in baseball.

Without them, my stat sheets look like the zeroes and ones that computer folks love.

Without them, outfield fences have lost meaning.

Without them, things are getting boring.

[ May 23, 2011, 05:20 PM: Message edited by: DOUGHBOYS ]

Raskol · Post by **Raskol** » Mon May 23, 2011 5:56 am

Agreed on all points. I thought the Red Sox were going to do their part by starting Wakefield last night but.......6 innings and about 13 minutes later, another low scoring affair was in the books.

I've seen Wake pitch alot over the last decade or so, and when he is on, he pitches quickly. Last night, I think he was keeping an extra ball in his glove so that he didn't have to wait for the return throw from the catcher before floating another knuckler over the plate.

The upside to this was that I didn't have to listen to ESPN announcers for very long.

All in all, it has been a very strange fantasy season. From the "oblique"atory injuries to a terrible first two months of weather across much of the country, offenses are putrid almost across the board, unless your name is Granderson, Bautista or A-Gonz. Those three players alone would solidify a fantasy team's perch atop the offensive rankings.

Rank offenses....I won't even go there but most of my teams have one!

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Mon May 23, 2011 8:07 am

Trust me, full staffs of Jeff Suppan's would definitely inflate scoring in the majors. As a Brewers fan who watched his 82 mph fastball long enough, there's no doubt that even the Judy's would have inflated scoring lines.

Scoring is so crazy low right now that the Phillies have been shut out four times, three times at home in the best bandbox baseball has to offer. That's just amazing with that lineup in that park. The pitchers haven't gotten that much better. It's almost as if this beautiful, clean game of ours was better when Conan the Barberians were on the juice. I don't want those days back either, but we're hardly getting our money's worth anymore.

Yesterday's Brewers game ended in 2 hours and 19 minutes, which is amazing with longer commercial breaks these days. I swear there were 2 hour innings for Brewers' pitchers during the Steroid Era!! Can we get a game that falls inbetween 1998 and 2011? That would keep our interest, that's for sure.

DOUGHBOYS · Post by **DOUGHBOYS** » Mon May 23, 2011 1:13 pm

Thank you, Bronson Arroyo.

It's nice to see some offense again.

A swell Jeff Suppan imitation.

Winston's Empire · Post by **Winston's Empire** » Tue May 24, 2011 2:14 am

I agree Dough that baseball is missing a little Fizzle this year, but you obviously haven't been playing in any leagues with me. All 5 of my teams have more hitting points than pitching points and only one of my teams has an ERA under 4.00.

I know this most likely says a lot more about my ability to pick a team with quality arms than baseball overall, but when I sit down to watch one of my pitchers throw BP, I grab the big Snickers bar, because I am not going anywhere for a while.

Glenneration X · Post by **Glenneration X** » Tue May 24, 2011 2:49 am

Originally posted by WINSTON'S EMPIRE:

I agree Dough that baseball is missing a little Fizzle this year, but you obviously haven't been playing in any leagues with me. All 5 of my teams have more hitting points than pitching points and only one of my teams has an ERA under 4.00.

I know this most likely says a lot more about my ability to pick a team with quality arms than baseball overall, but when I sit down to watch one of my pitchers throw BP, I grab the big Snickers bar, because I am not going anywhere for a while.

Max, sounds like Suppan might be an improvement for your teams.

Winston's Empire · Post by **Winston's Empire** » Tue May 24, 2011 3:32 am

Glenn, I appreciate your support

My team ERA in KJ's Keeper league went up last night from 3.500 to just under 3.700, good times! Vargas, Danks, and Gorzellany can all collectively bite it!

Good news is I have JJ on the DL now, so that will help

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Tue May 24, 2011 5:36 am

Originally posted by DOUGHBOYS:

I hate to say it, and God forbid my wife from hearing it, but I am a little bored with baseball this year.

Maybe it's the parity we have in baseball that is boring us Dan. It seems like every team is around .500 and nobody outside of Cleveland is dominating like we expected. It's this 3-2, two games above .500 sport after years of hating the Evil Empire and seeing the Pirates with 100+ losses. Now 83-79 might earn a wild card spot in the NL!!!

Here's a stat from Buster Olney today: 21 teams within 5 games of .500 this late in the season has not happened since 1974.

Glenneration X · Post by **Glenneration X** » Mon May 30, 2011 1:59 pm

Is it me, or has offense gone up significantly since Dan started this thread? (Mostly against my pitchers)

Hells Satans · Post by **Hells Satans** » Mon May 30, 2011 2:36 pm

Originally posted by Glenneration X:

Is it me, or has offense gone up significantly since Dan started this thread? (Mostly against my pitchers) Definitely. Not a coincidence that it's been about 95 degrees on the east coast for the last week