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ashbury

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Everything posted by ashbury

  1. ashbury
    MLB scorers tend to have day jobs that pay in that range or better. The sport would not get the people they wanted, if they offered less. Skill is in the eye of the beholder; everyone thinks they could do the Official Scorer's job, while only quite few actually have what it takes. Absolute concentration, coupled with the hide of a rhinoceros, coupled with a peer-oriented approach that leads to consistency. They also want to keep turnover low, likewise in the name of consistency. Good luck getting all that on the cheap.
  2. ashbury
    Bonus points for the pluperfect subjunctive. Few are going to defend the definition of a pitching win, particularly in cases like this. But, change the definition. I can't condone a scorer taking the decision* into his own hands. * pun unintended, but embraced
  3. ashbury
    Late to the discussion, but I was bothered by it before I saw this article and just need to chime in to say "Concur". The Texas scorer completely misunderstands rule 9.17 in this application. Pertinent verbatim excerpts: Whenever the score is tied, the game becomes a new contest insofar as the winning pitcher is concerned.The official scorer shall credit as the winning pitcher that pitcher whose team assumes a lead while such pitcher is in the game, or during the inning on offense in which such pitcher is removed from the game, and does not relinquish such leadThere is additional verbiage, such as "brief" and "ineffective", none of which applies. The rules are written to minimize the personal opinion of the scorer, not to add opportunities for that; this scorer seemed to think their opinion was solicited, when it most definitely was not. I don't know who has standing to protest a ruling like this (would be bush of Duffey to protest, while the Twins as a whole have a conflict of interest), but I hope it happens.
  4. ashbury
    Between a fine play at 2B and the two-run homer, a really, really nice game for Jonathan.
  5. ashbury
    I've been critical of Cave's decision-making in the outfield, but I guess I have to broaden it to say that he periodically makes decisions that his peers would not make. Visionary? Or just not paying attention through 7 years of pro ball, as to how everyone else plays the game?
  6. ashbury
    You win. Beer's on me next time we're at a game.
  7. ashbury
    They opened up a spot on the 40-man when Eades was lost on waivers. They could have waited a week on that, if the plan was to add someone next week. Ergo, someone not on the 40-man is coming up to the Show. Unless... the FO is playing Super Inside Baseball and somehow this week was deemed better than next week for trying to sneak someone through waivers. Didn't work, in that case. Anyway, I'm guessing Graterol, who was mentioned by Rob Antony a week or two ago.
  8. ashbury
    Jake Cave is batting 1.000 this year. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/split.fcgi?id=caveja01&year=2019&t=b#all_count If I'm Jake, I'm giving myself the red light on 3-0 for the rest of the season, to maintain this outstanding stat.
  9. ashbury
    I can not speak for others but in regard to stress reduction during a pennant chase the following coping mechanism always works like a charm for me.
  10. ashbury
    And a considerable number of holes to fill, with that budget, if they let some of the higher-priced guys go - or fewer holes but on less of a remaining budget, if they don't. Only if they decide that most of the holes can be filled with cheap rookies, will it be possible to pool the sum into just one or two expensive guys. I'll wait and see, but I don't foresee shiny Christmas presents for the fans. Just, market-rate prices for mid-level guys.
  11. ashbury
    Unless he can do things, knowing he will only pitch one inning, that he can't pace himself to do when going for five or more.
  12. ashbury
    Lots of good food for thought in this article, I'm going to concentrate on Kepler. One reason to keep Kepler in the leadoff spot is a suspicion that his HR numbers would tumble if he weren't in the leadoff spot. Pitchers have the option to vary their approach to a batter based on circumstances, and I think this is especially true of Max. This year, Max has 23 solo HR, and only 9 HR with bases occupied. Even taking into account a somewhat higher ratio of bases-empty PA, this split is very different from the American League as a whole. It's also very different from the rest of the team. If you give him more bases-occupied opportunity, it's very possible that his HR numbers go down. Not to the degree that he's punch-and-judy, but a lot. They say a lead-off batter's job is to get on base. I don't entirely agree with that - his job is like anyone else's to score runs. If he "gets on base", but then does the job implicitly assigned to a later batter to drive him in, by finishing the trot around the bases because he hit it out of the park, that's a good thing, not a bad one. I believed the same way about Dozier. He was contributing, with those leadoff homers. Do you think he would have gotten as many high-inside fastballs that he liked, if men were on base more often? I don't, no. So, I felt, let him continue to succeed, rather than sap his numbers by dropping him to #3 or wherever. Power hitters like Rosario and Garver have HR splits more normal to the league this season, and so they are less compelling as leadoff choices, for me. As for the side comment that Max Kepler has proved to be above average in center field... no. It's not backed up by the numbers I've looked at, and it's not backed up by the eye test either. Center field is a place where supremely talented fielders roam, and the bar is very high to be considered above average. Most teams have someone as good as Kepler on defense. (Few have anyone worth mentioning in the same breath as Buxton.) To play an average CF, or even a little below, where I see Max, is no insult. Max is an above average CFer because of his offense. He's an above average RFer because of his defense (in which he shines). It's a nice combination. He's the opposite of a tweener - an asset wherever you need him.
  13. ashbury
    Has anyone else watched Sherman's Showcase on IFC? It hearkens back to Soul Train and In Living Color. I found the sendups pretty fun - as with good parody, there is genuine love for the originals behind the skewering going on.
  14. ashbury
    Minors always have lots more errors. I think the groundskeeping has some of the blame, because often a good prospect suddenly becomes a much "better" fielder when moving up a level, even as the batting average goes down. It's possible that minor league Official Scorers are not quite on the same page with their MLB counterparts. It kind of doesn't matter where the errors come from, though. At the moment, the average MLB team has committed 73 errors, while the average Midwest League team has about 130, as an example. https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/league.cgi?id=7dc93b9d#all_league_fielding https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/MLB/2019.shtml#all_teams_standard_fielding
  15. ashbury
    If you are trying to get Arraez out of the pun police...
  16. ashbury
    Chattanooga won. Yay! Oh wait. Booo!
  17. ashbury
    It's that kind of lack of attention to detail that got me fired from my last three jobs.
  18. ashbury
    Only if he can approach it differently, such as not pacing himself to try to go six innings. Max-effort, in other words.
  19. ashbury
    Step three: Profit!
  20. ashbury
    Missed that. Good to see. At least, I picked the right guy.
  21. ashbury
    Another poor game from Wander Javier. At this point in the season, is there anything being gained by putting him out there on the field? Is there someone else who should be getting his innings? Is there someone at Elizabethton (Spencer Steer?) who would benefit from a headstart in single-A? I'm not saying to flush the guy, just to suggest a reset and start again next March. Let him sit on the bench and think about it the rest of August, rather than stink it up further?
  22. ashbury
    Unless they had acquired five starters better than Berrios, the same logic probably would still apply - he's better than whoever we could bring up - so that's a bit of a red herring. The article is about Berrios's performance, not the trade deadline.
  23. ashbury
    I don't necessarily disagree, but it might be more layered than that. Maybe Gibson had success three years ago when he started going after batters, if the book on him was that he wouldn't. Later, if the book on him caught up, batters might have been jumping on pitches, causing him to back off. It's a game of constant adjustments - while on top of that, his problems with command are self-described as fatigue. It is indeed frustrating to see how many of his pitches have no chance of accomplishing anything - someone needs to invest a stat "waste of time pitches" and keep count. Pace, likewise, is a two-edged sword. Get the ball, get the sign, fire... you can have men on second and third with no one out, before you even realize it. Coaches tell their charges, "slow the game down". Of course hitting coaches tell their batters the same thing, so if the pitcher has enough moxie to hurry them even a little, it can indeed pay off. Until, suddenly, it doesn't. Constant adjustments, once again.
  24. ashbury
    That is fine, in March, but as the results actually unfolded, I was expecting more of a pivot by the FO in July.
  25. ashbury
    Two age-old rules of thumb point in the same direction in this case: Don't make the second out at homePlay for the tie at home, for the win on the road
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