biggentleben

A big part of that is the quick trigger finger that umpires have with the warnings. In the National League, at least, a pitcher would have the opportunity to wear his decision to throw a 90+ MPH fastball up toward a hitter's head. The umpire took that away with warnings. Flaherty should absolutely be suspended.

...and Flaherty should face suspension for that crap. Up 13-1 and you fire a fastball up and in to make a point to Acuna. He should not hold a ball again this postseason. Then again, it's the guy behind the plate who really has the issue.

Really not sure who it'd be.

Should have. Replay constraints hurt that, but oh well. Can't come out and do this in a winner-take-all game.

He's essentially a veteran Dakota Hudson. For all their excellence in defense this year, an ideal Cardinals lineup does not lead to an ideal defensive alignment. Keuchel backed by Teheran immediately in that game could have meant a Braves win. Instead, they went to bullpen arms, leaving Teheran in a spot where he didn't know whether to dial it up or save himself for multiple innings. That would have been the spot to utilize Tomlin, frankly.

They spent millions on the area around the ballpark, have the highest-paid analytical staff in the league, have their highest payroll in team history, and nearly doubled the salary of coaching/staff/scouting as well. How are they not reinvesting the money received?

Outside QB, this may be the most skill talent a Gopher team has had in at least a decade and potentially since Barber/Maroney/Tapeh/Ellerson/Uttecht/Spaeth in 2003. Three running backs who have 1,000+ yards career entering the season (2 that have posted 1,000+ yard seasons), two wide receivers with pro futures, and a tight end that is young with some definite upside. That's a very impressive stable. Now the defense just needs to do something/anything in order to potentially have an 8-9 win year.

People also forget to mention that this was game 6...the Red Sox had a whole 7th game to blow as well, which they did.

Don't want to like this, but agree wholeheartedly. She was a favorite of my vocal teacher at the U of M. Incredibly, when you played recordings of my vocal teacher before her voice was damaged, the two sounded like dead ringers and it's a beautiful sound. Sadly, Norman outlived my vocal teacher.

Lots of noise about the Angels moving on and a number of potential openings due to managers leaving for other openings that they'd prefer for various reasons (Diamondbacks, Dodgers, Rockies, White Sox).

It was a couple of days ago, but T. Boone Pickens passed away at 91. He is a controversial figure in energy, though few sunk as much money into wind and solar power...he just passed the projects off before completing them in favor of natural gas. He should be regarded for being one of the founders of a group of wealthy investors that formed a lobby group that eventually forced the "one stock, one vote" policy on Wall Street, something that had not been in place prior to the mid-90s.

I may have to plan a family trip around Hamilton.

JJ Cooper had an impressive Twitter thread on this, but he also made a very good point outside that thread that independent ball would not likely be the winner here - it'd be more college summer leagues, which are nearly cost-free for the communities and bring in similar if not more revenue. Add in the chance that similar things could be done in the realm of high school showcasing, and we could see much less baseball overall in communities as far as total games and the level of play could be much lower (high school/college), not the hangers-on that many view as not getting a shot now in the game. One thing to consider in the piece, and Travis has addressed this on social media in response to the piece, is that while his numbers do correctly show a more successful pattern for players going from AA to the majors, like Seth said, that is the elite of the elite, who will put up significantly more career WAR anyway (10 relievers who come up from AAA and have 10-year careers earning 9 WAR do not equal one Rickey Henderson (and likely not one Trout once he's said and done) in spite of providing 100 years of positive value to the game). The other issue with that AA/AAA conversation is that it does not factor in the AAA ball effect this season. Travis already has mentioned that multiple players were much better prepared for success, especially pitchers, coming from AAA this year over advancing without AAA experience. Frankly, that is one argument for continuing to keep the MLB ball only at the AAA level and why it won't be used at the Arizona Fall League. This was a very good chat among folks in the group chat for the prospects site I'm contributing for now, with some very good arguments on multiple sides. With the weather issues in Florida, moving more toward complex could mean an expedited move for all teams out to Arizona, which is what I honestly believe MLB would prefer long-term. Beyond that, I did find it interesting that the minors released their attendance numbers yesterday for the regular season, which showed a notable increase over 2018, and the playoffs have been very well attended (by minor league standards), which should provide an excellent boost as well.

Have not seen it. I rarely get to see live theater (other than local theater).

He's also a pitcher whose stuff had no business being rated as highly as it was when considering what the current major league ball would do to him. He still hasn't changed that in AA in spite of better overall numbers.

I'd have to find the story on it (I've perused quite a number in the last 12 months and cannot even remember the authors of particular points at this point), but I believe the MLB (and now AAA) balls are made with a different leather as well as the incredible amount of research going into the specifics on pill placement and such that could be difficult to simply upscale to some degree. I don't honestly have the answer to the why of it, but I do know that added production costs being prohibitive is the reason.

I'm sure it could be...whether they want it to be is another thing.

My family and I have really enjoyed the series. My 7 year-old has really taken to it in particular, and he's really enjoyed all the focus on space travel around the 50th anniversary of the moon landing.

MLB owns the production centers. Where the MLB balls are made has a lower production capacity than other production centers.

This seems to be the only podcast post by searching, so I'll mention it here. I've been a big fan of Malcolm Gladwell's Revisionist History podcast, but this season is going above and beyond. I've also had a friend recently talk with Michael Lewis for the next season of his new podcast Against the Rules, and it sounds like the premise for the next season is very good, which is no surprise as the first season was exceptional (and Gladwell has his fingers in that podcast as well).

The cost is prohibitive to put the ball across all minor league levels. Frankly, one positive thing about putting the MLB ball into AAA is making AAA relevant again in development. For the last 10-15 years, teams had begun to move away from using AAA as a legit development stop and begun using it more as a place to harbor quad-A type guys and extra arms that were just off the 40-man for use as needed with the big league club if an injury outbreak were to occur. Now AAA is a legit stop that you need to see both hitters and pitchers make in their development. With pitchers, the outcome is obvious. One tremendous example recently left my favorite organization, so I got to have plenty of view on this. Kolby Allard was a prime draft candidate coming out of high school before back issues hurt him in his senior year and took his velocity from mid-90s in showcases before his senior year to low-90s his senior year. He was handled gently by the Braves and had to have back surgery early on with the team. Once he returned from that, his velocity was significantly down, often pitching entire games without topping 91 MPH, working primarily 88-89. That sort of pitching requires absolute precision or tremendous movement in the minors to succeed, but it requires BOTH in the majors. Allard hit the majors last season for a quick debut, and the first introduction to the different ball was obvious. He was hurt badly without a fourth pitch that he could command with movement. He spent the offseason working on a cutter, and while he's added another tick or two of velocity (sitting 90-92, touching 93-94) this year, he's spent the whole year in AAA and seen his improved arsenal contribute to a high-3's ERA, which is currently a top-5 ERA among all qualified AAA starters this season. If I'm Texas, I'm much more confident in his ability to produce as a #3/4 starter in the majors now after showing that performance in AAA with the same ball he'll see in MLB. For hitters, a ball that explodes off the bat can lead to some bad habits. While we know of the launch angle movement among many organizations, the nuance to that is significant across the game, and many players in AAA this season have notably gone for an all-or-nothing approach with their swing after finding power for the first time this season. It has allowed other hitters to show an ability to take controlled swings and cover the strike zone well, even with additional production from their natural and/or optimized swings without over-compensating for the ball. Tim Locastro of the Diamondbacks is a great example of a guy who hasn't put together a monster home run season, but he's shown an ability to generate average or above-average power without changing his swing mechanics due to the ball, and his previous excellent zone judgement and plus speed now play up into a big league starter. Josh VanMeter of the Reds is another great example of this. He had the Dustin Pedroia profile down well, but he was just a half-grade below Pedroia in every tool, which really shows the fine line of a quad-A guy and a potential All-Star as far as second base goes, but with the new ball, he's essentially playing as prime Pedroia in output. Even with the glove still that tick below, he's able to find a spot in the lineup with that production. In general, I'm not sure that spreading the ball across all minor league levels would actually be a productive thing. There does add a dimension of achievement in climbing the ladder, getting a chance to play in semi-MLB conditions once you've achieved AAA. That's just my pair of Lincolns, though.

He came out with no feel for his cutter. How he made it out of the first the way he was going is amazing, considering he was basically upper-80s fastball with a straight changeup. What is insane is that Keuchel got through 3 innings with a walk and four strikeouts even after allowing the first three hitters of the game to score on a pair of home runs. He then opened the fourth giving up what would have really been 7 straight hits if not for Keuchel's own excellent defense at pitcher, turning a double play on a weak dribbler in "no man's land" that most pitchers aren't in the defensive position at the end of their delivery to even attempt to grab, and if he didn't make that play, it's an infield single and he allows two more runs before he's finally pulled after Brian Anderson's second home run.

Posted this on Twitter...while it concerns the Twins, it's not really about the Twins, and while it concerns non-sports, it is about baseball, so I figured this was the best spot: https://twitter.com/biggentleben/status/1159118241823899649 And a wrapup after the game: https://twitter.com/biggentleben/status/1159222451462713346

He's taken the ball at least 2 times, and perhaps as many as 4 times, when the team needed him to go 6 or more innings after the bullpen was wrecked ahead of him. He took the hit to his ERA as he tired later in the game, but he kept pitching and getting guys to put the ball in play to his defenders. For what it's worth, with Riley on the IL, Duvall/Inciarte/Acuna across the outfield is a very, very good defensive outfield, and Keuchel has traditionally been a guy to let his defense back him up.

The stated goal a few times in the press from this front office has been to clear the books and identify the future core of the franchise with an eye to going in heavy into FA in 2019-2020 once the first wave of prospects has had a chance to hit and make their impact. That has happened, and the notable need is a starter. This deal almost certainly means Gerrit Cole hits the market as the Braves were in on him, but their focus was on pulling off both Cole and McCutchen in the same deal. With that available money that's not going to Greinke, the team should be able to pursue Cole, which I'd prefer. What I was surprised by is the cost. Much like the Twins could have taken on the prospect cost quite easily without hurting the overall system depth, the Braves could have absorbed the Greinke deal, and while Kiley McDaniel rated the team's impending 40-man issues as "not an issue" for the trade deadline, it would not surprise me one bit to see the Braves make some moves early in the 2019-2020 offseason using guys that will need to be protected this upcoming offseason, as the list is beginning to get long, and the Braves have a young team that they won't likely create much turnover year-to-year. That all said, the only reliever acquired at the deadline that won't be back is the guy who might be the easiest one to bring back this offseason before he actually hits the FA market if he shows well with the Braves through the end of the year (Chris Martin). This wasn't a load-up-for-2019 deadline in Atlanta, and that does show fans that this isn't going to be a one-time shot as an organization, which should excite the fan base...then again, many remember the attendance at the end of the Braves division title streak, so who knows how it will translate.