11/21/24
April 05, 2012
SportsFilter: The Thursday Huddle:
A place to discuss the sports stories that aren't making news, share links that aren't quite front-page material, and diagram plays on your hand. Remember to count to five Mississippi before commenting in anger.
He's relatively young and has won the NL MVP Award. He's a first baseman who should actually play at a high level for the entire length of the contract.
Goes completely against the MLB norm of awarding long term contracts to big name players on the decline, but this one actually makes some sense.
posted by cixelsyd at 12:16 PM on April 05, 2012
"Fabrice Muamba has walked for the first time since suffering a cardiac arrest as his condition continues to improve."
posted by scully at 12:25 PM on April 05, 2012
The Votto deal is the deal the Cardinals should have probably given Pujols in 2004 when he was 24 -- locking him up through his age 35 year (through the end of 2015), and would have been for less money. Instead, they got a great deal ($100MM for 7 years + a club option at $16MM for an eighth year), but ultimately had to let him walk this offseason with (presumably) some peak years still left. Of course, 12 years is risky, and Pujols had even less of a track record than Votto (although he was coming off a year better than any year Votto has had to date) at the time Pujols' arb years were bought out and he was originally extended.
But, considering that the Cardinals have won more games than all other NL teams combined at this point in the season, seems that they are not missing Pujols at all.
posted by holden at 12:38 PM on April 05, 2012
Not bad...
posted by Mr Bismarck at 01:27 PM on April 05, 2012
the occasional SportsCenter story but I've never heard of Votto
Absolutely not a knock on you. MVP, Gold Glove winner, NL Central Champs 2010. Yet a casual fan doesn't know his name. I was talking to another avid baseball fan yesterday (NY born and raised Yankee fan) who had never heard of Brandon Phillips, another Reds Gold Glove winner. The disparity in coverage of certain teams/players is just silly, and yet the fans still vote on the All-Star team.
For someone who left Cincy 20 years ago, I still pout a lot on Cincy's behalf, huh?
posted by tahoemoj at 02:34 PM on April 05, 2012
Yeah, I can totally see someone not knowing who Votto is, but he's definitely worth that contract in the abstract. My only concern is whether the Reds can afford to carry it and pay other people. They have a potential core there and I'd love to see them hang on to it.
posted by yerfatma at 03:32 PM on April 05, 2012
Absolutely not a knock on you. MVP, Gold Glove winner, NL Central Champs 2010. Yet a casual fan doesn't know his name.
That's because he's Canadian.
Who cares about Canadian baseball players? :)
posted by grum@work at 04:03 PM on April 05, 2012
Looks like Jose Valverde will not be 49 of 49 on save chances this year. But he's 1-0!!! And Verlander, after throwing 8 innings of 2 hit ball with 7Ks and 1 BB gets a big, fat ND.
Oh yeah, and Miguel Cabrera is on pace for 162 errors!
posted by holden at 04:20 PM on April 05, 2012
My only concern is whether the Reds can afford to carry it and pay other people.
That one concerns me as well. They have Votto and Bruce locked up for the foreseeable future. But there's talk about whether a deal can get done now with Phillips due to the big hit of Votto. Hopefully, this isn't his last year as a Red. And how to keep Cueto, Latos, Bailey, Chapman, etc? Can't win it without pitching, I've heard.
posted by tahoemoj at 04:27 PM on April 05, 2012
The other concern is whether Ubaldo Jiminez will try to plunk them for their contracts.
posted by yerfatma at 08:58 PM on April 05, 2012
The Best of Canadian Sportscenterre
posted by tommybiden at 11:01 PM on April 05, 2012
And how to keep Cueto, Latos,
Well, first make sure Latos is totally worth keeping; the Padres had reasons for trading him. His arm is great, but his head just isn't quite there yet.
posted by LionIndex at 12:51 AM on April 06, 2012
The Best of Canadian Sportscentre
National treasures, they are.
And, when I watch TSN, I actually get highlights and scores from all the games of the same sport, in the same segment!
Unlike ESPN, which jumps around between sports like a 9 year old on a sugar rush. When I was down in Columbus (to watch round 2 & 3 of March Madness), this was what ESPN presented to me during SportsCenter:
Manning talk!
NBA highlight!
Manning speculation!
NCAA highlight!
NBA highlight!
Manning rumour!
NCAA highlight!
NASCAR talk!
NBA highlight!
NCAA hightlight!
Manning graphic!
NBA discussion!
NCAA talk!
Things never once discussed in the 45 minutes:
NHL
MLB
posted by grum@work at 01:35 AM on April 06, 2012
If Sportsfilter had a favouriting bookmark system, that last comment would warrant one, grum.
posted by scully at 08:37 AM on April 06, 2012
NHL MLB
That is the very least of what they don't discuss. Why don't they just change their name to "Big Four Guy Sports, No Girls Allowed"?
posted by lil_brown_bat at 08:49 AM on April 06, 2012
Things never once discussed in the 45 minutes 2011-12 NHL Season:
NHL
I have to go to TSN's website to get any kind of real hockey news, and then I have to put up with all sorts of extraneous "u"s in my words.
posted by tahoemoj at 11:12 AM on April 06, 2012
If Sportsfilter had a favouriting bookmark system, that last comment would warrant one, grum.
You could tweet the link and then favorite the tweet, and/or like the tweet to Facebook, just to be sure you don't lose it.
posted by billsaysthis at 12:12 PM on April 06, 2012
Better to print it out, put it on a table, take a picture and then store that in the cloud.
posted by yerfatma at 01:33 PM on April 06, 2012
That is the very least of what they don't discuss. Why don't they just change their name to "Big Four Guy Sports, No Girls Allowed"?
Actually, I should have pointed out that the last "NCAA talk!" point was about the women's March Madness tournament.
I guess I don't have to tell you which major sports network was broadcasting that tournament, right?
posted by grum@work at 11:58 PM on April 06, 2012
Reds' Votto agrees to $251.5M, 12-year contract -- I admit to not following/liking baseball much but I do see headlines, discussions here and the occasional SportsCenter story but I've never heard of Votto and wonder how he can be worth $20M+/year to the Reds. Orhow they can afford it.