biggentleben

Time of game jumped with the influx of media-related delays. Baseball is doing everything BUT reducing media delays in order to quicken pace. I remember growing up that Twins games on the radio would often come back from a commercial break with a pitch or two already completed. Letting the media control the game pace instead of the other way around is your big reason things jumped so fast - not home runs, strikeouts, relievers, or any other thing that adds microseconds to an average game over the course of a year.

...or more accurate, the 1990 Reds

The RedZone channel has made NFL football digestable again, something it hasn't been for me for a while. I LOVE football, but if you haven't noticed the major difference between college and pro football in the pace of the game over the last decade or so, you've not been paying attention. Heck, my girls flat out call football boring and request baseball instead.

Make sure to read the piece, though.

Now the clincher that multiple sources have reported that the reporter he was specifically targeting was wearing a purple Domestic Violence bracelet and had covered the Astros previously and ripped their initial acquisition (to be fair, so did tonight's game 1 starter for the club). With multiple source confirmation, that's pretty damning.

I have a piece coming out on this soon, but I did the numbers on the Yankees. If they're dropped to 150 contract players from the 285 they currently have (been 275-300 most years, so that's a typical range for them) and the draft was clipped at 25 rounds, that would actually put them ahead if they paid as much as 260% current salary rate they're paying and come out ahead due to the proposal putting the costs for improvements on communities and shared with MiLB along with the shared costs of not having 10-15 signing bonuses to pay each year in the draft. Another thing to consider..the Appy League is one of the big losers in this proposal, yet the teams own their clubs in the Appy League, at least the majority. The improvement to facilities comes down to the teams themselves doing it, and they haven't, and now they want to blame minor league baseball for that...yeah.

No Yankees World Series appearances in the 2010s. That hasn't happened in a decade since the 1910s.

So, apparently Pressly had scar tissue break loose. Here's hoping that doesn't end the brilliance he's experienced in the last 18 months.

One big question that many have brought up in San Diego - Hosmer's money is dead and non insignificant (he's been worth negative fWAR his first two years of the deal) and many managers are not fans of Machado, who has a reputation in the league (throwing bats at players, starting fistfights in the dugout and at spring workouts, and more BEFORE last postseason's antics that seemingly opened peoples' eyes to his behavior), and he's tied to a monster contract. Preller's also a guy who can be contentious. Those aspects could certainly add to San Diego being less of a desired destination than their raw talent would suggest.

TBH, I don't know. It's just that usually you see openings all the way up to GM meetings in mid-/late-November. For instance, if the Pads do choose to go with Ron Washington, I do think that would be a strike for Alex Anthopolous to potentially move on from Brian Snitker in Atlanta. Another angle to look at are guys who are entering the last year of their deal and want to get extended this offseason. If the numbers don't work out, team/manager may part ways an offseason early. Guys in that situation include Craig Counsell (now the longest-tenured manager at his post in the NL - maybe the majors as well), Dave Martinez, Ron Gardenhire, Snitker, Rick Renteria, and Aaron Boone.

...and I'm not sold that we're done seeing them open up.

Their contracts are going to clear pretty quick. Eppler didn't sign many of the truly bad ones, that's the thing. Pujols is done after 2021, Cozart after 2020, Calhoun has a very cheap buyout this year to end his deal, and Simmons is done after 2020. Trout and Upton are the only ones with contracts beyond 2021 (Upton done after 2022). Trimming off the fat on that payroll has taken significant work. However, there's going to be an open spot for Adell even to open 2020. There's been plenty of interest in Upton when healthy, and they could move him when Marsh is ready. Grabbing guys like Harvey have been on one-year deals. Those, like the trade for LaStella, can either be a brilliant move or a quick, easy DFA if they don't work out, like Harvey and Lucroy didn't. That's what you do while you wait for the system to produce the long-term guys you need. I'd wager 2-3 of their top 30 arms hit the majors next year along with 3-4 more arms. There are 2-3 more bats that should make it quickly in 2020 as well.

You mean the team whose farm system is likely to be top 10 in most places this offseason and should graduate a top 2-3 prospect in the entire game into the major league outfield next season (with plenty more in AA and AAA ready to come at multiple positions)? I think Joe will be quite happy with his choice. The big thing will be finding the ace for the rotation as there are a host of excellent young arms, but none with the upside of a #1 sort of guy. Sounds like Joe wasn't wanted in San Diego all that badly. Ownership wants Ron Washington, Preller wants Tingler, whose name is just waiting for a double entendre. Sounds like Tingler has made replacement plans with the winter league team he was managing in the Dominican, so he's got a feeling something is happening.

Missed on this thread was the passing of Robert Forster on Friday. Odd to watch the El Camino movie the same day he passed away...

Just to clarify for reference, nearly half the stadium in tickets was available for purchase roughly 12 hours ahead of the game. Assuming these are all Cardinals fans is perhaps giving additional credit where it is not due. No numbers to say who was or was not there to support the Cardinals, but with that many tickets available, traveling fans and just fans of baseball that wanted to see an NLCS game could be a notable contingent of the group giving that ovation.

Teams construct their roster based upon how the ball played in the regular season. A team that couldn't buy a hit in the regular season (Cardinals) got numerous hits on sub-70 MPH exit velocity balls that had very odd hops down the line. Teams whose offense focused around the lively ball suddenly had balls dying that scored runs a week prior. It essentially negates all the regular season was as far as team-building. I've been able to secure two pitchers who said the ball moved significantly different for them on the mound in the playoffs versus regular season. Neither is ready to go on record yet about it, but in the 2017 postseason, the same ball that would suddenly start flying out of stadiums in mid-2018 caused Verlander to gripe publicly and Darvish to go from the Dodgers' savior for the final two months of the year to completely useless in the World Series as his slider wouldn't break due to what he and Verlander both reported were lower seams. Changing the ball that significantly for the postseason is akin to telling teams that their work in team construction is all useless.

Those who faced Ruth and players of color in the era stated that while Ruth was among the best in the game at the time, there were multiple hitters whose skin never allowed them to play in the major leagues that were superior hitters, especially when reviewing Ruth's performance against similar Negro Leagues pitchers.

Committee? No. Behind the scenes stuff that never sees the light of public? Absolutely. Gabe Kapler should be sitting in prison right now and should never work again in baseball, but things told to the commish's office were never moved beyond there and nothing was ever pressed legally, so here we sit. Executives still are intentionally excluding applicants due to race/gender/other social groupings. The game knows it, but until someone goes to a private lawyer and the civil courts on the issue, nothing will happen as complaints to the league office tend to end with hush money or a position with another team that's more welcoming. This stuff happens in the game constantly and doesn't get out simply because there's not enough there to really do a full expose style story on it. One thing I have had confirmed from other viewers of the same program is that MLB Network's morning show leaked that the ball would be different in the playoffs in a discussion about what ball would be used in the Arizona Fall League. While the majority of the show repeats in the second hour, that particular segment oddly did not, and it was cut off in a weird way as it happened as well. I've searched and searched for any clip of that segment to no avail, but two fellow watchers of the same program confirmed seeing the same segment, so it's not just my conspiracy brain at work. I do struggle with even using that word, though. When the commish has made enemies of the owners and the players because of unilateral moves to the game emanating from his office, is changing the ball without notice really a conspiracy or simply the next unilateral move?

They did a ball change before the 2017 offseason as well. The more lively ball that was seen that offseason showed up roughly midseason in 2018. Ridiculous how bad the MLB explanation sounds. Manfred has irked both sides of the negotiating table. We'll be dealing with a major mess in the CBA soon as the owners are growingly unhappy with him and the players definitely don't like him.

Even if they don't work something out, you really think Stras at 31 would have a lot of offers beyond 4/$100 that he's opting out of?

Frankly, this is yet another strike against Manfred. Doing things like this unilaterally has cost him big with some of the biggest owners in the league (specifically the Dodgers, who had this happen to them in the 2017 postseason as well) while making changes to the game unilaterally has cost him big with the MLBPA. We're headed for a major work stoppage that will likely require removal of the commish to resolve. The real thing about this is you have teams that built and designed their teams around the regular season ball and won over 300 games among them (Braves, Dodgers, Twins) that saw major changes in how both their pitching and hitting performed in the postseason. One team slumping is one thing. It's pretty obvious when it's pitchers and hitters both struggling. Add in the Astros potentially as well if they're eliminated tonight, and that's a bad, bad look for MLB.

Angels are the organization he cut his teeth with, they have an impressive farm system that is about to launch multiple top players into the majors in the next two years to go with the best player of the generation, the best defender of the generation, and arguably the most intriguing talent of the generation (Shohei).

Not to mention, again, that Flaherty missed glove side if he missed at all with his two-seamer whether throwing it inside, outside, up, or down throughout the game before that pitch. He went arm side, in AND UP to Acuna. Pitching a guy inside to back him off the plate is one thing. Hell, even plunking a guy to some degree I can handle as old school and part of the game, but the guys who did it intentionally would do it with an off speed pitch and aim for the midsection or butt. Even Bob Gibson has said over and over that he wishes some of today's technology was around when he pitched because he feels he got an unfair reputation. When you go inside AND up, that's going toward a guy's head. That's out of bounds. When you do so with a 90+ MPH pitch, you should be given a suspension.

He has some fans for sure around the game, but I've been told by more than one Latin player in the game that the thing nobody will put their name to for a quote is that Yadi is beloved, even made an idol in St. Louis and by national media, but he's a cheap and dirty competitor that really cannot take what he dishes out. I've always been of the opinion that the early 2010s saw three generational talents behind the plate in Mauer, Posey, and Yadi. Concussions moved arguably the best of the bunch, and you could make plenty of argument over who's been better between Buster and Molina. When I was told that comment by the first Latin player, I brushed it off, but after hearing it from one that had played with Yadi in the WBC, I started watching, and it's very, very true.

He'd been money with his 2-seam fastball all game, only missing the target glove-side all game. Darling even mentioned it that same inning. Then he fired one at 90 MPH that went up and in and immediately had words for Acuna ("Just go to first", per multiple fans, both Braves and neutral who were at the game)? I don't think that's a mistake. Nevermind that Yadi took the opportunity to further his a-hole reputation everywhere but Cardinals fans and his own clubhouse. Great teammate, horrible competitor. He'll do anything to defend "his guys", but he's also easily irked by anything that he sees as disrespectful or upsetting to "his guys".