What about grit and hustle and the will to win?

and the ability to "put the bat on the ball"

Well that's called hitting. Its like the ability to "put the ball over the plate".

how about the ability to hit it in the clutch?

Delmon Young should've won mvp in 2010 cuz he had 112 RBI and a 298 average.

What was his WAR

2010 was also the year Trevor Cahill won 18 games with a 2.97 era. How did he not win the Cy?

Man, Bronson Arroyo also won 17 games with a 3.88 era that year. So many great pitchers we forget about.

Ruby De La Rosa was a stud last year. Won 14 games. Sure, he had an era of 4.67 and was worth 0.3 WAR, but he knew how to WIN!

2.97 and 18 wins is a good to great season. Are you going to say he didn't have a good season?

Drebin now you're just being a dumbass.

Twas also a fluke. His FIP was over 4. It was a great season but not because of his record.

Chris Sale has a Era of 3.38 and 14 wins. He will probably be the Cy Young winner too this year.

Naw dude. Wins and era. Thats all you need. He wuz great.

K's too.

:(

I miss that guy. Had a great curve.

You saw him in the showers too?

David Wright not winning the 2007 NL MVP over Jimmy Rollins still pisses me off. He's basically the only player on that team that didn't shit the bed during their September meltdown but unfortunately what happened to the team impacted his votes.

Actually Matt Holliday probably deserved it more than Wright even, but playing 81 games in Coors is always going to hurt your chances even if it's not the player's fault.

Yeah Matt Holliday was my pick that year

Even though that fag still hasn't touched home plate

The 2007 Rockies were such a fun story even if they were part of a trend.

2006 Tigers
2007 Rockies
2014 Royals
2015 Mets

Feels like anytime a team that nobody expected to do anything that year makes a charge to the World Series, they always fall at the final hurdle with only the 2014 Royals being competitive in the Series itself.

2005 White Sox won it though when they were expected to finish last. Jealous Frank? You should be.

Why do I seem to remember the 2005 White Sox being expected to be decent only for them to then blow the expectations out of the water?

Oh and the 2008 Rays can be added to my list, too. They had never even been in the playoffs before that season.

No idea but they were supposed to be terrible.

Still wish the Royals would have lost last year. Mess them.

Welp, not even 48 hours after this post and Pomeranz is reportedly heading to Boston.

Aaron Hill, Brad Ziegler, and now Drew Pomeranz.

Is half of the Boston roster on the DL? Or does Dombrowski got something big going on with all these trades.

Probably just wanted to prevent pitching from derailing another season for the Red Sox. Also probably didn't need to make a deal for Hill but more infield depth is good.

Main worry people had when the Red Sox hired Dombrowski was him gutting the farm system that was surprisngly pretty good the past few years just for quick fixes. People still had a bad taste from when Cherrington and Epstein would gut the farm with bad deals.

Lol they traded the #14 ranked prospect Anderson Espinoza for a guy that might not be able to stay in the rotation very long

Love love love the trade. Espinoza is 18, sits mid to high 90s, and is already in single a with an mlb eta of 2019, when he'll be 21. The Padres turned light hitting Yonder Alonso into the #14 prospect in all of baseball.

Add to that the high upside arms they drafted, plus the kid they got for Fernando Rodney, and the future looks so much more bright.

Meanwhile Dombrowski has traded Manny Margot, Javier Guerra, Logan Allen, Carlos Asuaje, and now Anderson Espinoza to the Padres in the last year. For a closer and a guy who's 27 having a career year. The Padres have absolutely fleeced Dombrowski and Boston in raiding their farm.

Think I said the way back during the Kimbrel trade but this is Dombrowski's m.o. Trade the farm for veterans with no regard for the long term. We've seen the position it's put Detroit in and now he's starting to empty out the barrel in Boston.

Used to live Yonder Alonso. Thought he has a Will Clark like bat.

Thought he was gonna be Mark Grace 2.0. Just never developed even average power.

wimp will never get 100 RBIs

The more Boston sucks, the happier I get.

You're doing it wrong then

I like the move. They really needed somebody and they got a guy on a hot streak. Still would like to get another starter.

Seems like the top 4 in the rotation are set for the time being.

I think Dombrowski makes one more move that's a bit more modest to shore up the 5th spot

Wonder what Baltimore will do about their starting rotation issues.

Also wonder what the Jays plan to do. Easter arms race going to be crazy in the 2nd half.

No need for a 5th starter. Rodriguez and Buchholz (yuckkk) can fill it just fine. Need a left fielder and a reliever really.