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ashbury

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Everything posted by ashbury

  1. ashbury
    Listing Jenkins and Keaschall as DH makes me wonder what it is we're seeing here.
  2. ashbury
    LA Dodgers: "Only? Cry us a river, please. The most by anyone in our rotation either year was 25 Games Started." 😀
  3. ashbury
    No.
  4. ashbury
    Until May 9.
  5. ashbury
    It's possible he can keep his ERA around 4.5 in his age-24 season, and if he accomplishes that then there could be room for a little additional growth as a pitcher, namely into a very useful piece a couple years down the road. Can't rule out a starter's slot in the rotation someday. It's a risk to carry him for the full season, and I'm of the opinion the Phillies will not make it easy to keep him via a trade, so pitching coach Maki has his work cut out for him.
  6. ashbury
    High five to that.
  7. ashbury
    This feels unbalanced. I hope someone presents the other side of the issue.
  8. ashbury
    What if Philly wants him back, which they probably do? Might have to give up a good pitching prospect in return.
  9. ashbury
  10. ashbury
    The factory's not going to be especially impressive, either. Was it over when the Swedes bombed the Germans at Pearl Harbor???
  11. ashbury
    Been there a handful of times, can't say it was ever an unalloyed good experience. One time was ironically fun - I was explaining baseball to some European visitors and the first inning had the visiting team bat around, so at least there was plenty of action. The flagpole in CF was a stupid idea and I watched a visiting outfielder fall down on that hill trying to track a routine flyball, so I'm glad they got rid of that travesty. The cheap home runs in left field always annoy me. During their 100+ loss seasons I attended a ballgame where there was lively crowd noise at appropriate times because they were piping in the sounds to supplement what the actual crowd of about 6,000 people were making; the cheating scandal a few seasons later just fit in organically with the general bogosity of the ballpark experience. Even the model train in the outfield is annoying, I don't know why. Nope, don't like the place.
  12. ashbury
    I expect with every pitch you add, it becomes harder to avoid tipping the new one or one of the old ones. Major league hitters are talented and can usually wallop anything if they know it's coming. Having multiple pitches that all look the same until deep into the delivery can be effective; a bunch of clever pitches that all look different right away, maybe not so much. I'm sure this is factored into what the coaches teach, but putting it into practice is what's hard. On top of this is of course having command, as the article touches on. It doesn't do much good if you can't put the pitch where you intend to and then have to fall back on a get-me-over pitch.
  13. ashbury
    I'm putting you in charge of Quality Control when I buy a factory.
  14. ashbury
    It's a good first step. You want to find the strategery that has a chance of succeeding. But, it's incomplete. "What happens when you try the strategery? What are the odds that it actually works?" That's the necessary second step.
  15. ashbury
    Ford's a non-roster invite so he's even less of a likelihood than Gasper. Except for Keaschall who I don't think they will rush, none of the NRI position players look like should normally have much of a chance. Your analysis, which I mainly agree with, highlights how thin the 40-man actually is. Most years I don't like to put much weight on Spring Training hitting numbers, as it's inherently Small Sample Size and the level of competition is inconsistent, but this might be the year where someone has the right kind of success to earn a spot, including an NRI who might push someone like Gasper off the 40-man. Lee or Martin or Julien could do enough to make the FO decide that additional time at St Paul isn't actually necessary, and if all of them flop then it could be someone else getting the prize. I view Ty France as less of a lock than many here do. Falvey signed him with an escape clause for a reason. But if indeed France is let go, it just points up even more clearly how weak the 40-man is with batters, and someone with perhaps questionable credentials will make the club. Which in turn means... France has to be pretty bad in Spring not to make the club. Except... to me it's a strong possibility that it's how it plays out during March.
  16. ashbury
    Especially from the left-hand batter's box, lay down a bunt in your first PA of the season, and do it again late in the same game. Then every second game or so, for a while, do it your first or second time up, game situation permitting. Give the defense something to think about and maybe open up some real estate for your regular grounders to sneak through. Maybe not Wallner or Larnach though, LOL.
  17. ashbury
    Hoping for the best of course. But they could draft 100 Connor Prielipps and only about 3 would really pan out in a top of the rotation way, in my estimation.
  18. ashbury
    I was in attendance when Paul Castner was the featured guest at the Halsey Hall Chapter's Spring meeting, 1985. He was 88 years old and passed away less than a year later, so it was great to get a final chance to pick his brain for memories. He did tell the Cobb story, in response to a rather general question about memories of Cobb if I'm not mistaken. Sorry I don't recall the details of that story (and I reached out to a couple of fellow members who couldn't recall either), but what sticks out for me is that he prefaced the story with a quavering "Ohhhhh. He was a miserable fellow." Forty years later and the expression on his face is still clear for me, of the contempt this old-timer had for the Hall of Famer. A major leaguer is a major leaguer forever, and it was cool to interact with someone who was a contemporary of players so long before.
  19. ashbury
    ... In The Best Shape of His Life!™
  20. ashbury
  21. ashbury
    Can the Sire actually be won by someone playing his Spring games on the back fields? 😀
  22. ashbury
    All other concerns having been addressed, the FO completed their off-season preparations with the signing of Ty France. What other meaning could this have? This Twins team is destined for 100+ wins, baby! Book it.
  23. ashbury
    It used to be that you'd bring up a youngster and let him get his bearings in the majors by pitching in relief. Not always, not every prospect, but it was respectable tactic, dating back to the old-timey days when rookies were downright hazed. In more modern times, Johan Santana is a classic example, though it was debated hotly at the time whether they took too long to convert him back to starter status, and one could waste time arguing that their decisions cost him a HoF plaque. Adam Wainwright is another, more clear-cut example, who came up to stay in 2006 and pitched exclusively in relief for the Cards, then converted back to starting and never looked back. By contrast, starter-prospect-turned-reliever Trevor May remarked early in his career that he understood his situation by embracing the bullpen, and that it was too hard for a pitcher to switch to starting once he got accustomed to relieving. There's a disconnect here. The game evolves, but what exactly about it has changed so that putting a guy in the bullpen in the interest of getting to the majors quicker constitutes a death knell for his opportunity as a starter down the road?
  24. ashbury
    I'd like to see Lee start the season at St Paul regardless of his hitting in camp this spring. Unfortunately, I'm not sure the 40-man roster has enough plausible candidates to staff the infield without him! If someone steps up, Lee goes down if I'm in charge.
  25. ashbury
    Didn't Dobber's downfall begin with a finger injury? Perhaps the knuckleball grip would aggravate it.
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