ashbury

Teams knew about Small Sample Size before it was cool. Only they call it "let's see how he does when facing the same opponents for a second series," and other verbiage. / edit - ninja'd somewhat by Seth, but oh well

Now that a couple of sides to the vaccine discussion have been heard, let's please move any continuation to the Sports Bar forum so as to not derail this thread.

Is there anything at all about Sean Miller's offensive game that suggests he has a shot at the majors? My small time observing him in the 2017 AFL left me unimpressed, and disappointed that the Twins invested one of their allotted slots there on him.

More likely, when TR was replaced, the faction lobbying for his removal no longer needed to continue that message, and a different faction has their opinions on the new team. You can't judge by posting volume, pro or con. Someone will always have a different approach to offer than the current one. Lumping everyone together into "we" clouds that. Best would be to rebut those opinions you disagree with, rather than focus on the people.

Without doing the necessary research I'm going to guess that this is different people saying different things at different times. Opinions will always vary.

Shaping up to be the 4th of his 5 seasons at 1B with less than 150 games played isn't scathing enough as a critique of durability? Whew, tough crowd tonight.

I'd like a sweep.

Yeah, darn our stodgy front office for NOT promoting all our 1.300 OPSing hitters at low-A, and promoting again from high-A to AA after they OPS 1.256, and promoting to the majors after a .981 OPS. Darn them all to heck!

Or voted into Cooperstown.

Strong game for Ben today against the Clinton Whitewaters. Two base hits in four at bats, and he even stole a base in the sixth inning. Better still, he threw out would-be base stealer Billy Cooke in the fourth.

You're preaching to the Adopt-A-Prospect choir, sir.

Why report on today's game against Pawtucket when I can plagiarize? "In seven shutout innings, [slegers] struck out five and didn’t walk a batter. He scattered five hits." 'Nuff said. Easy peasy.

I didn't want to pile on.

As a wise man once said: http://i0.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/facebook/000/012/132/thatsthejoke.jpg

For the Sabrmetric terms I was about to recommend the FanGraphs glossaries tab: https://www.fangraphs.com/ But then I did a search of BABIP on Urban Dictionary, and found that they have all bases covered: So, never mind. As you were.

Built on a BABIP of zero. Just wait 'til he normalizes!

My resume is on its way to 1 Twins Way even as we speak. Thanks for the encouragement. I stand a chance at being one of the all-time best.

"I often quote myself. It adds spice to my conversation." - George Bernard Shaw

Catchers rarely do, so let's just say 4th out of 5 and not pile on.

If he's been under Rowson's tutelage, I would suggest Byron have a heart-to-heart with Eduardo Escobar, who has a sneaky ability to pull the ball with intent once in a while but seems not to overdo it, and see what he can glean from him. My own suggestion would be to impose the self-discipline to swing for the fences at most once in a game, for the rest of the season. One swing. As the pitch comes in, consider whether this is the one pitch that is worth taking a crack at like that. Otherwise, level line-drive swing, or bunt for a base hit, or work the count toward a walk. Of course, Yogi said* you can't think and hit - and perhaps Byron would not benefit from my tutelage either. * And if he didn't, he probably still did

But seriously, I sympathize with your view. An ounce of proofreading saves a pound of, you know, like, whatever. The site's Comment Policy contains a passage devoted to your concern. I'd even laud it as a comic masterpiece except that modesty forbids me Riverbrian would have done it better. However, this takes a back seat to the main concerns that we post respectfully to one another and try not to post inauthentically (i.e. trolling). I don't remember the last time a moderator took action against a poor typist. I'll take a pound of their/they're/there mistakes over an ounce of flaming.

tl;dnr lol ls/mft* * If you're as old as you claim you are, you won't have to look this last one up.

Here's my take on Buxton: coaches to this point (minors and majors) have been focused on making him the best offensive weapon he can be. An emphasis on launch angle (judging by his uppercut last time I was paying attention) with an eye toward being a home run threat... isn't ... working out. Time to switch gears and put all that aside for now. Keep him in the majors, but have him focus on doing things to win games using what he apparently has in his arsenal already, rather than try to develop a better arsenal. He can get on base - yes, I'm in the "bunt at least once every game" camp for now. Line drive singles (which can turn into doubles for him) and gappers (which might be triples) will do just fine, if he gives up on the useless fly outs. Improve the walk rate, which could be an exploitable outcome of being pitched to like a bunting threat. Mid-career Gary Pettis will be an asset to a contending team. Do that for the rest of 2018. Continue the strength training next off-season. That's soon enough. The HR power could still come in. Don't do PEDs though.

Slegers is a great example of what I'm talking about. I happen to believe he could settle in as a workhorse in a good rotation. But, the lack of strikeouts is a warning flag for many, and maybe I'm foolish to believe in him. It's that difference of opinion that might give him the Marlins opportunity you speak of, if the Marlins are more interested in results than form. But no way were the Twins investing minor league starts in him because they were hoping he reaches a ceiling of a #4; the opportunity cost is too great through the years as he's coming up the ranks. These rotation numbers are so arbitrary and roster-dependent as to make them meaningless, except as "potential #1/ace", "potential #2/#3", or "make him a reliever before it's too late". Someone who's a AAAA guy flunked out of whatever ceiling people thought he had.

I've held off from weighing in on this topic because, well, I didn't see a lot of good coming from doing so. But I agree with your general take, and especially this particular point. It's difficult to think of a career that removes the likelihood of unsupervised time with young'uns better than one in pro sports. If the justice system has deemed he's made his amends, I'm not in favor of vigilante justice that prolongs the punishment. If the offense was committed at age 13, even more so. The kid had a screw loose in his brain at that time. People grow up, and maybe that malfunction is fixed. I would value a chance to interview him myself, just to form my own opinion about whether there's still a risk, but I'm no expert, and life's too short to interview every offender in the world. So for me the practical approach is to let the system do its job. However, the young man needs to understand a couple of things. First, unlike other players, he will be dealt with harshly and probably summarily if he messes up in any way, not just the offense he got convicted of. Other players might get a second chance - he's already on his. Next, even if he's "cured" or "reformed", his profile seems like a candidate for obsessive-compulsive behaviors, possibly even addictive ones (sexual being only one such manifestation), and he should avail himself of mental health pros for periodic counseling just to be on the safe side. Playing in the minors holds all kinds of temptations. And finally, he should think really seriously about whether he wants to be in the public eye. It's going to be rough. There will be loudmouths at every ballpark his team visits, and perhaps even his own home park, who will think up the most creative and vile ways to get under his skin. I can cook up a ten-letter insult word involving "baby", and I'm not even creative. Wanna hear that one for your entire career? Get ready, kid. Minor league games are such that one guy who finds a seat near the front row can make his opinions known - tough enough when the opinions concern just your baseball skills. After what I've said about second chances, pro ball might not be for him. Has he considered a career selling insurance?