Official 2016 MLB season thread

[lighthousekeeper]

Anyone watching the home run derby? The audio (at least for me) is atrocious. They've got the field mic waaay too loud and the announcers are just audible enough to hear that they're talking but unable to make out anything they are saying. Plus, the cameras are all over the place - it's just so sloppy. /rant

[lighthousekeeper]

Giancarlo looks like he's barely swinging and the ball goes 450+ feet.

[rowech]

There is no way these are the same kind of balls used in games.

[stevew]

Those jerseys are absolute fire and someone needs to bring back brown and yellow if the Padres don't

[cuervo72]

Muted the song, but those were some nice pegs.

[EagleFan]

Okay, haven't paid enough attention. Why is the AL the home team in San Diego?

[rowech]

Reds all-stars are 0 for their last 24. Their last extra base hit was 84 at bats ago in 1982 when Concepcion hit a home run.

[Vince, Pt. II]

Originally Posted by EagleFan

Okay, haven't paid enough attention. Why is the AL the home team in San Diego?

Read somewhere that the next four all star games are in NL parks, so they're just alternating the home team.

[digamma]

Assume MBBF is being treated for priapism this morning?

[BishopMVP]

Worst fears realized. Fuck Dave Dombrowski.

[Ryche]

Wow, Terry Ryan gone from the Twins. Thought it would happen when the season ended but I'm surprised they dropped the axe now. Please bring in someone from outside the organization as his replacement.

[JPhillips]

From Jeff Passan:

Former Cardinals scouting director Chris Correa sentenced to 46 months in jail for hacking Houston Astros' computer system, per @dfbarron.

That's a serious sentence.

Now what does MLB do to the organization?

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

From Jeff Passan:



That's a serious sentence.

Now what does MLB do to the organization?

The fun thing is, what he did wasn't even hacking. He tried one of Luhnow's passwords from his Cardinals days and whoops looks like he left the key under the mat.

Now, it was definitely criminal trespass, but "hacking"? That was about as much a hack as when you leave your phone logged into Facebook and one of your drunk-ass friends picks it up and posts HACKED!!!ONE1! to your profile.

Please tell me Passan is being lazy with his terminology and not that the law defines hacking that broadly.

[Shkspr]

Originally Posted by SackAttack

The fun thing is, what he did wasn't even hacking. He tried one of Luhnow's passwords from his Cardinals days and whoops looks like he left the key under the mat.

Now, it was definitely criminal trespass, but "hacking"? That was about as much a hack as when you leave your phone logged into Facebook and one of your drunk-ass friends picks it up and posts HACKED!!!ONE1! to your profile.

Please tell me Passan is being lazy with his terminology and not that the law defines hacking that broadly.

Unauthorized access to a protected computer is the actual charge, and the federal sentencing guidelines range from three to sixty months for each instance. He ended up getting about nine months per charge. But yes, social engineering totally counts as hacking, in the government's eyes.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Jarrod Dyson just hit a grand slam. The apocalypse can't be far behind.

[Suicane75]

I've got him filled in on my all-star ballot for next year.

[Butter]

Dude just got sentenced to federal prison time, yet MLB still hasn't punished the Cards.

I guess maybe they feel like they need to determine if the Astros scouting system got hacked the right way?

[panerd]

He should have just stored his files on Hillarys servers.

[cartman]

Aroldis Chapman hit 105 on the radar guns in a game last night. Jeebus.

[dawgfan]

Originally Posted by cartman

Aroldis Chapman hit 105 on the radar guns in a game last night. Jeebus.

I just watched the "Fastball" documentary the other night and they made some interesting claims at the end. I think most of us have been under the impression that Chapman has the fastest fastball ever, but what we need to keep in mind is that the speed measurement from radar guns is the speed just after the ball is released.

When they had physicists take a look at the old readings from Bob Feller that measured him at 98.6 and an early radar reading of Nolan Ryan from '74 at 100.9, they noted that both readings were different than current measurements in that Feller's reading was the speed as the ball crossed the plate, and Ryan's was a few feet in front of the plate. When they calculated for drag and distance, they extrapolated values of over 107 mph for Feller and over 108 mph for Ryan.

Anyway, it's a fun film and is available on Netflix streaming.

[stevew]

Jameson Taillon definitely endeared himself to the yinzers last night. Shrugged off a liner to the back of the head and then pitched 6 strong innings despite only having a pitch count of 65 available. I mean, i know the Brewers aren't any good, but I think he's going to be special.

[cartman]

Prince Fielder is going back to the DL with a neck issue. Rumor is that it is related to the neck fusion surgery he underwent in 2014. If so, that is not a good sign for him ever getting back to the player he used to be.

[SirFozzie]

Death of the Lefty One Out Guy? (LOOGY)

Rob Manfred says MLB may limit the use of relied pitchers

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

Death of the Lefty One Out Guy? (LOOGY)

Rob Manfred says MLB may limit the use of relied pitchers

I'm not a traditionalist by any means, but between this and talk of going to electronic balls and strikes at some point I don't know what to think. Awful, awful changes for the game.

[Suicane75]

I'm all for electronic balls and strikes. The reliever thing is stupid as shit.

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by Suicane75

I'm all for electronic balls and strikes. The reliever thing is stupid as shit.

The problem with electronic balls and strikes is it fundamentally changes a position, only at the professional level, in a way no other position in any other sport can compare.

Electronic balls and strikes would be MLB only. They're not going to spend what it would take to put it every minor league park and it's never reaching college, high school, or lower levels either. As long as umpires are calling balls and strikes catchers are going to be developed and trained to properly frame strikes. It is the most important skill a catcher has. Far more important than throwing, blocking, and probably on par with hitting as far as impact on a team goes.

What this means is that catchers from the time they start playing until the time they reach the minors are primarily going to be judged on their ability to frame pitches. Then, all of a sudden, it doesn't matter anymore. The thing a catcher spends the most time on his entire life up until he reaches the majors becomes completely irrelevant.

It's incredibly hard to come up with an comparable impact. Imagine 3rd basemen not needing to throw to 1st anymore. If they field a grounder cleanly the batter is automatically out, but only at the major league level. That probably understates the impact on the catcher position.

[stevew]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

Death of the Lefty One Out Guy? (LOOGY)

Rob Manfred says MLB may limit the use of relied pitchers

You know the problem with relief pitchers is that they're so good,” Manfred said. “I've got nothing against relief pitchers but they do two things to the game; the pitching changes themselves slow the game down and our relief pitchers have become so dominateat the back end that they actually rob action out of the end of the game, the last few innings of the game. So relief pitchers is a topic that is under active consideration. We're talking about that a lot internally.”

[Butter]

Originally Posted by stevew

You know the problem with relief pitchers is that they're so good,” Manfred said.

I take it he hasn't been watching a lot of Reds games this year.

[EagleFan]

Originally Posted by Atocep

The problem with electronic balls and strikes is it fundamentally changes a position, only at the professional level, in a way no other position in any other sport can compare.

Electronic balls and strikes would be MLB only. They're not going to spend what it would take to put it every minor league park and it's never reaching college, high school, or lower levels either. As long as umpires are calling balls and strikes catchers are going to be developed and trained to properly frame strikes. It is the most important skill a catcher has. Far more important than throwing, blocking, and probably on par with hitting as far as impact on a team goes.

What this means is that catchers from the time they start playing until the time they reach the minors are primarily going to be judged on their ability to frame pitches. Then, all of a sudden, it doesn't matter anymore. The thing a catcher spends the most time on his entire life up until he reaches the majors becomes completely irrelevant.

It's incredibly hard to come up with an comparable impact. Imagine 3rd basemen not needing to throw to 1st anymore. If they field a grounder cleanly the batter is automatically out, but only at the major league level. That probably understates the impact on the catcher position.

Would also change pitchers. Suddenly not getting the same pitches called strikes that they were getting called all the way up until they reached the majors.

[Travis]

I have 0 problems with catchers working more on throwing out base runners (either stealing or surprising them on the way back to the base) and being more worried about catching/stopping/blocking pitches than concentrating on framing them. Sure, that affects the game at levels where electronic balls and strikes aren't being called, but that'll filter down as the tech gets cheaper and in a generation or two the structure of training catchers will follow that.

Resisting change for the sake of "it's too hard to do" isn't something I'm a big fan of. Finding strategies to improve the game and ways to support that, let's start looking at those (ie: how do we get that technology filtered down sooner than later, etc). Granted, the pro/con list or are we actually improving the sport is a needed conversation.

Plus, even if it's not as much of a main focus, it's not like framing can't still be taught/used at the lower levels. Having catchers spending more time working on other skills though, sure, sign me up, especially if it means less human errors involved in the game.

As for pitchers, some may complain, but I suspect a majority would love to know the exact zone they're working with every single time out. With how much they work on their craft, hard to imagine that not being an asset at that level.

[Suicane75]

Yeah, I'm not on board with the framing thing. They'll learn to adapt. I'd rather strikes be strikes 100 percent of the time, and let the other stuff fall in line. Pitchers as well, I can't believe it's not an asset to know what the zone is 100% of the time.

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by Travis

I have 0 problems with catchers working more on throwing out base runners (either stealing or surprising them on the way back to the base) and being more worried about catching/stopping/blocking pitches than concentrating on framing them. Sure, that affects the game at levels where electronic balls and strikes aren't being called, but that'll filter down as the tech gets cheaper and in a generation or two the structure of training catchers will follow that.

Except it's not going to change at any level where there isn't electronic ball and strikes because proper framing has that big of an impact on the game.

A catcher gets to throw maybe 2-3 times per game. He'll block less than a half dozen pitches per game. Catchers already spend hours on those skills as early as 10-12 years old and throwing, especially, has a limited impact on the game once players reach high school. Framing is far and away the most difficult of the skills catchers learn and the most important.

Better understanding of the importance of good framing and blocking is a large reason we've seen a shift toward more athletic catchers while the old little league mindset of putting the big slow kid behind the plate to hide him is dated. Go watch some high level baseball in the 14-18 year old age range and the 3 best athletes will be the shortstop, centerfielder, and the catcher.

Like I said, marginalizing it changes the position from a development and an impact standpoint. No other position in any other sport I can think has been changed as much as electronic balls/strikes would change catching.

[Logan]

Originally Posted by Suicane75

I'm all for electronic balls and strikes. The reliever thing is stupid as shit.

If the issue is slowing the game down too much with all of these bullpen moves, just make it the responsibility of the teams to bring these guys in warmed up already. No need to spend all that extra time throwing more warm up tosses that can be done in the bullpen. You can cut more time by eliminating the manager/pitching coach going out to the mound, talking to the current pitcher, having the ump come out which leads to the new guy finally being signaled, then the coach talks to the new guy, etc.

The amount of actual time it should take to get one guy to walk from the mound to the dugout and another from the pen to the mound should be pretty short and not detrimental to the pace of the game. It's all the other shit along with it.

Carve out a couple situations where the manager and/or PC is allowed to come out and talk strategy. But that's it. Everything else can be done from the dugout.

[stevew]

If they wanna make a rule where a reliever has to face 2 players before being removed from the lineup, I could live with that.

[JonInMiddleGA]

The relievers thing? Whomever came up with that ought to be hung, with a poorly tied knot. Slowly.

[BishopMVP]

Originally Posted by stevew

If they wanna make a rule where a reliever has to face 2 players before being removed from the lineup, I could live with that.

Me too. Though I think the bigger problem is in September with 40 man rosters. Managers ('sup Joe Maddon!) should not have 12 relievers to play with in a given game.

I also saw an interesting proposal where throws to a base were limited. No more than 3 in a row to one base, or 5 total to a base in one at bat. You could play with those numbers a little bit, but the basic principle is helping bring the running game back a little, and turning an incredibly boring "play" into something a little more exciting or meaningful.

[AENeuman]

Originally Posted by Atocep

The problem with electronic balls and strikes is it fundamentally changes a position, only at the professional level, in a way no other position in any other sport can compare.

Electronic balls and strikes would be MLB only. They're not going to spend what it would take to put it every minor league park and it's never reaching college, high school, or lower levels either. As long as umpires are calling balls and strikes catchers are going to be developed and trained to properly frame strikes. It is the most important skill a catcher has. Far more important than throwing, blocking, and probably on par with hitting as far as impact on a team goes.

What this means is that catchers from the time they start playing until the time they reach the minors are primarily going to be judged on their ability to frame pitches. Then, all of a sudden, it doesn't matter anymore. The thing a catcher spends the most time on his entire life up until he reaches the majors becomes completely irrelevant.

It's incredibly hard to come up with an comparable impact. Imagine 3rd basemen not needing to throw to 1st anymore. If they field a grounder cleanly the batter is automatically out, but only at the major league level. That probably understates the impact on the catcher position.

Wouldn't the use of metal bats until professional baseball be similar?

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by AENeuman

Wouldn't the use of metal bats until professional baseball be similar?

Not really. Metal bats are heavily regulated and have to meet the BBCOR standard now which comes really close to matching wood bat performance. It's nowhere near what it was 20 years ago. Swing a BBCOR bat and compare it to a bat from the 80s or 90s and it feels dead. The only real difference between BBCOR and wood is BBCOR will have a larger sweet spot.

We see far less "metal bat swings" than we did then. Mostly because of the above plus most high school aged hitters will start training with wood bats anyway as they benefit more in training by having the smaller sweet spot.

[AENeuman]

Originally Posted by Atocep

Not really. Metal bats are heavily regulated and have to meet the BBCOR standard now which comes really close to matching wood bat performance. It's nowhere near what it was 20 years ago. Swing a BBCOR bat and compare it to a bat from the 80s or 90s and it feels dead. The only real difference between BBCOR and wood is BBCOR will have a larger sweet spot.

We see far less "metal bat swings" than we did then. Mostly because of the above plus most high school aged hitters will start training with wood bats anyway as they benefit more in training by having the smaller sweet spot.

Thanks, didn't know things changed. I remember in 25 years ago in high school a student got drafted and everyone was teasing him about now needing to switch to a real (wood) bat.

[PilotMan]

I guess Sale really dislikes old, uncomfortable jerseys.

White Sox Scratch Chris Sale After He Reportedly Cuts Up Throwback Jerseys [UPDATES]

[molson]

Jerry Remy leaves Red Sox game with injury after being smacked in the head with a monitor that was knocked over during a wind gust (he's OK and will be back tomorrow). I can't remember another announcer leaving a game due to injury. Johnny Most once set his pants on fire during a Celtics game, but he didn't leave.

[Shkspr]

Originally Posted by PilotMan

I guess Sale really dislikes old, uncomfortable jerseys.

White Sox Scratch Chris Sale After He Reportedly Cuts Up Throwback Jerseys [UPDATES]

The weird thing about this story is that it wasn't even about the '76 short pants edition.

[MrBug708]

The Dodgers tend to stick with tame uniforms Chris..

[JPhillips]

Jose Peraza is closing in on 100 ABs and still has no extra base hits. If he started regularly he might set a record.

edit: And I'm going to be pissed when the Yankees get more for a half season of Chapman than the Reds got for a full season.

[Easy Mac]

Originally Posted by Shkspr

The weird thing about this story is that it wasn't even about the '76 short pants edition.

The weird thing about this story is that the Braves keep being mentioned as a destination for Sale?

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Easy Mac

The weird thing about this story is that the Braves keep being mentioned as a destination for Sale?

That seems to mostly be a function of "name every team that hypothetically has enough prospects to pay the reported 5-7 players price"

[Logan]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

edit: And I'm going to be pissed when the Yankees get more for a half season of Chapman than the Reds got for a full season.

All about the suspension being behind him now vs the unknown of what was coming.

[Neuqua]

Yankees And Cubs Have Chapman Deal Barring Unforeseen Hiccup

[JPhillips]

Originally Posted by Logan

All about the suspension being behind him now vs the unknown of what was coming.

Sure, but the Reds didn't have to trade him. They chose to sell at the bottom and now the Yankees are getting a much better haul for half the playing time.

[Logan]

Yeah I agree with you there.