Brock Beauchamp

Well, it kinda needed to happen. It's unfortunate but Allen simply wasn't getting results with this staff, even when adjusted for their meager talent levels. And I was really excited when Allen was brought on board.

While it's possible Grossman needed work with routes, what's more likely is that his 2016 was simply inexplicably bad. His 2017 numbers align with his pre-2016 numbers: mostly meh, maybe a touch on the subpar side. But if you look at the statcast data posted, what killed Grossman last season was the strange botching of 1- and 2-star plays on a regular basis.

Except for the part where Ortiz was better in the minors and had a breakout season at age 26, sure.

People keep predicting regression for Rosario and while I think he'll slide a bit, he could also progress. Remember that he had a terrible month to start 2017 (.660 OPS). All of Rosario's metrics trended in the right direction and he's only entering his age 26 season. The power could be legit (and almost surely is to some extent). When the season began, I suggested that all Rosario needed to do was stop swinging at the worst 3-4% of pitches thrown to him (and drew a few laughs that such a minor change would reap dividends). His wrists and contact ability could turn that small adjustment into him being a decent player (though I didn't expect the outbreak of power to the extent we saw this season). As it turns out, that's exactly what Eddie did this season. His O-Zone Swing % dropped 4.1% (overall swing rate dropped 2.0%). As a result, his O-Zone Contact % jumped 6.5%, likely due to the fact he was laying off the pitches he couldn't hit and still swinging at the pitches he could. His overall contact rate jumped a whopping 5.3%. As I thought might be the case, that small change caused a domino effect. Rosario's hitting profile used to be untenable. Now, given his wrists and bat speed, it might be sustainable. Rosario didn't need to change his approach drastically to have success in MLB, he simply needed to lay off the junk pitches because they killed so many of his plate appearances. If you throw something close to the zone, Eddie can probably lay wood on it. In the past, that meant pitchers threw him absolute trash to get a swinging strike. Again, the domino effect. Eddie's K rate dropped a massive 7.7%. It appears Eddie stopped swinging at the worst pitches. As a result, his contact rate shot up, his K rate dropped, he drew a few more walks, and he started forcing pitchers to give him something to hit instead of getting himself out. And that resulted in not only more contact but also better contact (hard hit up 1.6%, soft hit down 1.8%, line drive % up 0.9%, ground ball % down 3.9%).

I will be disappointed if the payroll comes in under $120m on Opening Day. They're shedding close to $20m in contracts and will give back about $8-10m of that in pay increases. That leaves them in the $98-100m range, giving them ~$20m in money to pick up players this offseason. The team saw an attendance bump of about 1300 people per game this season. Next season, it should be much larger. They should have the flexibility to add more than $5m to payroll.

Those are definitely concerns but Rosario's batted ball profile looks like he'll continue to be better, though how much better is certainly in question. I believe Escobar's performance will drop considerably. On the upside, Buxton should improve. As good as he looked for the second half of the season, he still only finished with a .728 OPS. His second half OPS was .893. Not that I expect him to be a .900 OPS player going forward but the improvement was real and if healthy, he should certainly top a .728 OPS for the season.

Putting Jose into the second inning of a postseason tie game is a good way to see how many Yankees fans in the 18th row you can kill with a 103mph fastball.

I disagree. Put him out there for one, maybe two, batters. Let him catch his breath and see if the yips are gone.

Seriously, everybody, I’m on the verge of tears.

THIS ISN’T ****ING HAPPENING OH MY GOD I MIGHT DIE

OH MY ****ING GOD I’M GOING TO HAVE A CARDIAC ARREST

One beer for each Yankee batter through three innings. You may want to run to the store.

I assume no one is posting in this thread because everyone is currently throwing up in their toilet.

I’m twitchy and slightly nauseous. It’s official. Postseason baseball is back in Minnesota.

As a Twins fan I can say with near certainty that no, that would not be fun.

Due an hour ago, I believe.

I don't know if it's about scoring against their bullpen as much as it's about coming back from a deficit against their bullpen. Here's hoping Severino has the yips. After all, he's only 23 years old and there's a reason the Twins aren't putting Berrios on the mound tonight.

I honestly don't get this take. Watching more teams vie for a postseason spot keeps me engaged for longer, even more so when it's a team I care about. Of course, there's a line to walk, one I think the NBA crosses with over half its teams reaching the playoffs (and many of them not very good). I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm just saying I don't understand.

Nobody ****s with the Boss on Nick's watch.

Bunnys in NE. I know a few other people are heading over there so if you don't have a place to watch, come join us.

Heh. Exactly.

Show me an example where white America doesn’t lose its **** when black America protests anything and I’ll concede the point that protesting the “wrong way” is harmful to the overall cause.

If the Twins somehow manage to pull off the near-impossible and win it all, I really hope Ryan gets a ring. Smith, I don't really care.

Yeah, fantastic cities. I don't want to live in either one (already got my mega-city fill living in LA for nine years) but love to visit both.

BP has Castro 9 fielding runs above average on the season, good for 11th in baseball. So they certainly believe he had something to do with the improved pitching staff. FTR, Suzuki was at -1.0 FRAA, 67th in baseball.