Avoiding disaster

[Number3]

As far as "the way the game is played" now is concerned with <5 inning starts not being uncommon, launch angles and <than Mendoza line batting averages being ok as long as the 4 baggers are there, can't wait to see how the bull pens hold up in the post All Star game season. Also seems like RBIs are a very important stat now that batting averages are in the tank. What happened to the all important on base percentage? No wonder Mauer retired.

[Brock Beauchamp]

49 minutes ago, Number3 said:

Also seems like RBIs are a very important stat now that batting averages are in the tank. What happened to the all important on base percentage? No wonder Mauer retired.

RBI will never be an important stat again because there are other, better, indicators of the "skill" required to drive in runners, primarily slugging, wRC+, or other metrics.

Also, OBP is and will always be a priority for teams. It's part of the reason why starters are going fewer innings; it's because hitters continue to run up pitch counts in pursuit of both OBP and slugging (hitters are better than ever at waiting for "their" pitch to drive).

[TheLeviathan]

3 hours ago, chpettit19 said:

I just think baseball isn't that popular anymore. What reason do you attribute to the viewership being so low in 2019? I don't remember any dramatic political stance by the league that year. Baseball missing the All Star game last year and playing a shortened season wouldn't bring in more fans, it'd cost them fans. Same concern with a potential loss in games next year with the CBA mess. The dedicated fans that watched in 2019 seem to have mostly all shown up again in 2021. Casual fans didn't miss the game in 2020 the way those of us who really love the game did. Having found other ways to spend their summer nights and new hobbies during the pandemic means they're less likely to come back to the game they were just passively interested in to start with. Any increase in viewership is a win in my book.

I completely agree with your thesis, but I will note that I think TV ratings are a bad way to judge popularity.  TV viewership is simply not what it was 5 years ago much less 20.  I don't know if I know a better measurement, just that TV ratings are in a really dicey place right now.

[TwinsDr2021]

2 hours ago, chpettit19 said:

Says a lot that you picked out just 1 team out of the top 7 that I presented you. Care to comment on the other 6? 3 of which still average fewer IP/GS than the Twins?

Want individual rankings for IP/GS Twins v Rays? Glasnow (6.3), Berrios (6.0), Yarbrough (5.9), Happ (5.1), Hill (5.1), Pineda (5.1), Maeda (4.8), McClanahan (4.6), Shoemaker (4.6). Those are the guys that made the top 131 in baseball in IP/GS. Those are your "real starters" and not relief pitchers starting. My point still stands in every way, shape, and form.

This is how the game is played now. You don't have to like it or agree with it. But your attempt to make it sound like the Twins are doing something outrageous and outside of conventional baseball strategy in 2021 is simply wrong.

Didn't spend a ton of time, but from my quick look, it looks like the Dodger, Mets, Marlins and Padres (17) all have started a relief pitcher over 10 times this year, which means they went into a game with a plan of starting a relief pitcher for an inning or two and finishing the game off with other relief pitchers, thus lowering there starting pitching average. If you take their main starters

Dodgers have 4 starters with 9 or more quality starts, Mets have 2 with over 10, Marlins have 3 with 9, Brewers( 3 over 9, 1 over 5), SD has 1 with 10.

Twins Berrios (7), Happ(4), Pineda(4), Shoemaker(3), Maeda(2), Dobnak(1)

My real point is when you are running out pitchers that everybody knows isn't going to get you past the 5th, have a better plan then fingers crossed he gets though 5; or runing out 1 inning pitchers for the rest of the game. We all know that Ober is on a pitch and inning limit and I think that is a good plan, so have another pitcher ready that can pitch a few innings, and in the minors let these pitchers get stretched out so that when they get to the majors you are expecting a 5 inning start instead of hoping the pitcher is perfect and will get you to 5 innings, and if in the minors they can't pitch more than that, then you know you have a long relief pitcher to combo with another long relief pitcher.

[chpettit19]

12 minutes ago, TheLeviathan said:

I completely agree with your thesis, but I will note that I think TV ratings are a bad way to judge popularity.  TV viewership is simply not what it was 5 years ago much less 20.  I don't know if I know a better measurement, just that TV ratings are in a really dicey place right now.

I don't disagree with that at all.

[chpettit19]

9 minutes ago, TwinsDr2021 said:

Didn't spend a ton of time, but from my quick look, it looks like the Dodger, Mets, Marlins and Padres (17) all have started a relief pitcher over 10 times this year, which means they went into a game with a plan of starting a relief pitcher for an inning or two and finishing the game off with other relief pitchers, thus lowering there starting pitching average. If you take their main starters

Dodgers have 4 starters with 9 or more quality starts, Mets have 2 with over 10, Marlins have 3 with 9, Brewers( 3 over 9, 1 over 5), SD has 1 with 10.

Twins Berrios (7), Happ(4), Pineda(4), Shoemaker(3), Maeda(2), Dobnak(1)

My real point is when you are running out pitchers that everybody knows isn't going to get you past the 5th, have a better plan then fingers crossed he gets though 5; or runing out 1 inning pitchers for the rest of the game. We all know that Ober is on a pitch and inning limit and I think that is a good plan, so have another pitcher ready that can pitch a few innings, and in the minors let these pitchers get stretched out so that when they get to the majors you are expecting a 5 inning start instead of hoping the pitcher is perfect and will get you to 5 innings, and if in the minors they can't pitch more than that, then you know you have a long relief pitcher to combo with another long relief pitcher.

I'm all for having tag team pitchers. I've said on here I'd have 3 starters who get to go until they're ineffective and 2 teams of 2 pitchers who are expected to get through the whole game with just the 2 of them. Ober for the first 5 and Dobnak for the last 4 for a random example. I don't disagree that having starters go longer and cover more innings is better for your bullpen, but the stats you're throwing out aren't proving your point. Creativity is most certainly needed to manage the workload of pitching staffs these days. Especially coming off a shortened 2020 season. But quality starts doesn't show that 1 team vs the other has different rules on how long they'll let their guys go. The fact that the Twins have so many guys with quality starts show they are letting their guys go when they can. They clearly don't have the talent in the rotation those other teams do, but that doesn't mean the Twins aren't managing their staff the same as the league in general. There's a reason there's no team in baseball averaging even 6 innings a start. The A's at 5.7 is the highest with nobody else over 5.5 (3 teams). This is simply how the game is played now.