MLB Off-Topic

[tonybologna]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/23388435/early-returns-baseball-offseason-biggest-moves

[Sportsforever]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

I've been having a debate with my brother about quality starts and how valuable they are. Personally, I love them, can't get enough of them.

If you could off me a pitcher who will give up 3 runs but go 6 innings every single game, I'd bite your hand off for him as I'm in every single game he pitches and I'm keeping my bullpen fresh. My brother on the other hand is of the fairly reasonable opinion that an ERA of 4.5 is not really that great and he'd rather have a mixture of good and bad starts from a guy with a lower ERA.

So which side would you fall on? Would you want this imaginary consistently average pitcher in your rotation? If yes, how many of them would you want?

This is one fallacy with the QS stat that I hear all the time. You'll hear an announcer say "Oh...a pitcher with a 4.50 ERA is NOT a quality starter...why does he get a quality start!?". The thing is, a 4.50 ERA is the HIGHEST ERA that can qualify for a quality start. A guy goes 8 innings with no runs...that's a quality start. 7 innings, 2 runs...that's a quality start. There has to be a line somewhere and John Lowe chose 6 IP/3 ER.

You don't throw the baby out with the bathwater...just because the "bottom" of a quality start isn't great in your opinion doesn't mean the stat doesn't have value. If you look at the QS leaderboard each year, you'll see it dominated by quality pitchers. Do I love the stat? Not by itself, but it is a good/quick check at how well a pitcher has been pitching.

[BigOscar]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

This is one fallacy with the QS stat that I hear all the time. You'll hear an announcer say "Oh...a pitcher with a 4.50 ERA is NOT a quality starter...why does he get a quality start!?". The thing is, a 4.50 ERA is the HIGHEST ERA that can qualify for a quality start. A guy goes 8 innings with no runs...that's a quality start. 7 innings, 2 runs...that's a quality start. There has to be a line somewhere and John Lowe chose 6 IP/3 ER.

You don't throw the baby out with the bathwater...just because the "bottom" of a quality start isn't great in your opinion doesn't mean the stat doesn't have value. If you look at the QS leaderboard each year, you'll see it dominated by quality pitchers. Do I love the stat? Not by itself, but it is a good/quick check at how well a pitcher has been pitching.

Agreed, but at the same time, I don't consider 6 innings of 3 run ball a bad game, even if I would consider a 4.5 ERA to be bad. (which is obviously contradictory)

If my starter goes 6 and keeps me in the game, then I'll take that every day of the week. Heck, if my starter gave up 4 runs in 7 innings I'd probably be pretty happy with that as it just helps the team out so much to eat up those innings without letting the other team get out of sight.

[l3ulvl]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

We could have tiers of quality starts, like the 3 ER 6IP example would be tier 1, and a perfect game would be tier 10

This is probably me just trying to take basic stats and make them sound like analytics, I'm thinking xFIP matters far more than tier 5 quality starts

[Majingir]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

Was watching Baseball Seasons (2004) that re-aired on MLB Network awhile back. Weird that they didn't even mention Manny Ramirez once in the entire thing(I saw him on screen for a split second during an Ortiz home run celebration). He finished 3rd in AL MVP Voting and was the WS MVP! Didn't mention his name once in the entire piece. They made it seem like it was simply the David Ortiz show. Bill Mueller got more screen time than Manny did.

Also forgot just how long some guys in baseball today have been in the game. That was also Ichiros record breaking season for hits and a young Pujols dominating with the Cards. And Randy Johnson was 40 that season and should've won the CY Young(beat Clemens in almost every category)

A thing I never knew about, the Red Sox almost got ARod?! Decided to read about it online and apparently Manny and some prospect named Jon Lester would've gone to Texas in this deal. Going from that to just trading him to the Yankees for Alfonso Soriano lol.

[CMH]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

Was watching Baseball Seasons (2004) that re-aired on MLB Network awhile back. Weird that they didn't even mention Manny Ramirez once in the entire thing(I saw him on screen for a split second during an Ortiz home run celebration). He finished 3rd in AL MVP Voting and was the WS MVP! Didn't mention his name once in the entire piece. They made it seem like it was simply the David Ortiz show. Bill Mueller got more screen time than Manny did.

Also forgot just how long some guys in baseball today have been in the game. That was also Ichiros record breaking season for hits and a young Pujols dominating with the Cards. And Randy Johnson was 40 that season and should've won the CY Young(beat Clemens in almost every category)

A thing I never knew about, the Red Sox almost got ARod?! Decided to read about it online and apparently Manny and some prospect named Jon Lester would've gone to Texas in this deal. Going from that to just trading him to the Yankees for Alfonso Soriano lol.

It was similar to the recent Stanton trade. The Rangers needed to move Alex and after the Boston deal was nixed, the Yankees were the only team that could afford Rodriguez. And much like Stanton, the Yankees only got involved late.

It was always Alex to Boston for several days. Rodriguez even tried surrendering some of his money to make the deal happen but the MLBPA didn't allow it.

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[Sportsforever]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

It was similar to the recent Stanton trade. The Rangers needed to move Alex and after the Boston deal was nixed, the Yankees were the only team that could afford Rodriguez. And much like Stanton, the Yankees only got involved late.

It was always Alex to Boston for several days. Rodriguez even tried surrendering some of his money to make the deal happen but the MLBPA didn't allow it.

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The only reason it happened was because Aaron Boone thought he could play basketball.

[WaitTilNextYear]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

Yeah, that A-Rod almost went to Boston is common knowledge I thought. Wasn't there even a 30 for 30 on it? I remember seeing a program that did a bunch of interviews with people involved.

[Rocky2018]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

Yea I want to say the reason the deal was nixed is it was calling for a restructured contract that would pay less and the players union didn’t want to allow that precedent to go through, I’m sure other factors involved as well


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[Sportsforever]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

20 years ago today Kerry Wood pitched most dominant baseball game I've ever witnessed. I've witnessed perfect games, no-no's, etc, but I have never seen a big leaguer make such a good lineup look so helpless. He was overpowering; such a shame that his career was hampered by injuries.

[redsox4evur]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

Yea the A-Rod to Boston trade proposal was/is common knowledge. My favorite what if of recent MLB history. Would have loved to see what a team of Ortiz, A-Rod and Magglio Ordonez would’ve done in the MLB. The trade was fully agreed upon by both sides but the MLBPA balked due to A-Rod restructuring his contract and taking less money.


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[WaitTilNextYear]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

20 years ago today Kerry Wood pitched most dominant baseball game I've ever witnessed. I've witnessed perfect games, no-no's, etc, but I have never seen a big leaguer make such a good lineup look so helpless. He was overpowering; such a shame that his career was hampered by injuries.

I still remember where I was and what I was doing at the time. Sadly, it wasn't watching the game. I was in high school and at tennis practice when the assistant coach, who had been listening to it in his car, mentioned it being in progress. We turned on the radio in the coach's travel van and caught just a little bit of the end.

Fortunately there is recording technology and I've seen the replay about 20 times. That frisbee slider was just unholy. He was just a baby faced kid and I still remember how nervous and fidgety he looked in his MLB debut, which I think was on the carpet at Montreal. I also remember closely watching Wood's next start at Arizona where they were going on and on about the MLB K record over 2 consecutive starts.

I'd have to agree that was the best pitched game I've ever seen. I imagine the Killer B's might also agree.

[SPTO]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

Yea the A-Rod to Boston trade proposal was/is common knowledge. My favorite what if of recent MLB history. Would have loved to see what a team of Ortiz, A-Rod and Magglio Ordonez would’ve done in the MLB. The trade was fully agreed upon by both sides but the MLBPA balked due to A-Rod restructuring his contract and taking less money.


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I remember that, somehow I think that those 3 wouldn't have meshed so well in the clubhouse and it could've been a recipe for disaster but it would've been a fascinating gong show for sure.

[BigOscar]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

So the London games have been confirmed, my bank balance is already crying in the corner at the thought of it tbh!

Not convinced this is a good idea at all tbh, baseball really isn't popular here at all. Most sports fans over here generally mock it as the most boring game in the world (generally through ignorance) and their really isn't that fanbase required for this sort of thing yet. This feels like the sort of thing you do towards the end of a fan development tactic, not the start.

I'm sure it'll sell out as London is huge and full of tourists and expats, who will pay through the nose to go to any "event", but I don't think it will do much for growing the game. Also it's a lot more poplar in mainland Europe so you might get a lot of Dutch and Germans coming over for the games.

If they were serious about developing a fanbase over here, there are a ton of things they could do that I think would be a lot more effective than this. (number one being get the games on Sky Sports instead of ESPN as the viewership is exponentially larger, even if it means accepting less money. Make a partnership with them and get them to promote the hell out of it. They managed to make competitive darts big, so they really so have the power to make anything big!)

[Majingir]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

Jays closer Roberto Osuna was arrested/charged with domestic assault.