biggentleben

I'd be intrigued to see more evidence on that. It'd seem that you'd see more correlation on the ends of BMI (which is a horrific number anyway as 6'2" and 210 pounds can be healthy on one guy and unhealthy on the next) from experiential inference, but I'm not sure. I did mention in the piece that he really doesn't carry the weight in a bad way. He has a prominent backside, but in the same way that Vlad Guerrero, Jr. has one. He's also impressive bouncing off the mound to field pitches, which leads to believe that he's in fairly good physical condition. I'd think with him, the bigger worry would be the arm slot than his overall body size as far as potential future arm issues.

I was incredibly intrigued when I heard about the Twins signing of Kai-Wei Teng in fall of 2017 and once it was announced in December of that year. He's an incredibly intriguing pitcher, and I enjoyed taking some time to watch his work so far this year with Cedar Rapids. Here's my report: https://videobaseballscout.com/video-scouting-report-on-minnesota-twins-rhp-kai-wei-teng/

Picking nits, but Wright pitched out of the bullpen last season in the majors.

As much as I sometimes disagreed with his final decision on cases, I could always respect the method with which Kennedy came to a decision on cases. He didn't follow one ideology or party or anything or the sort. He stayed true to himself and his personal beliefs, informed through exhaustive, well-backed research. I can always respect that.

That inning was pure crap. The entire game, the ump called a zone tight on the corners with flexibility up and down in the zone. The crowd gets into Kimbrel coming in, and he missed multiple pitches. Brian McCann was absolutely in his rights to go ballistic when he was called out on strikes on a pitch that not one of his pitchers could get the entire game, which is why I'm sure he was given tremendous latitude to get right in the face of the umpire (who had already thrown out Carlos Gonzalez in the game, so it's not as if he was holding back on throwing out players that day) and scream at him for at least a solid minute. The ump knew he was wrong and took the reaming for it. The missed calls affected the pitchers hitters went after. Acuna golfed a pitch for a double that he would have likely preferred to let go, but a strike had been called earlier in the count that was well outside. Freeman swung at a pitch off the inside part of the plate that he ended up grounding to Rizzo to finish the game...though Rizzo is even 3' either direction of where he's playing, and that's a double down the line, scoring both runners and tying the game. Kimbrel didn't look good. He wasn't finishing right, which left his control all over the place, and that struggle to finish was heavily on his left knee, the same knee that was a major concern for most teams worried that he'd need to miss a year to get the knee fully repaired and healed due to the extensive damage in it. He might even get through 2019, but his knee makes a multi-year contract a huge risk, and an understandable one to walk away from for a smart organization. The Cubs are in a different pressure environment, forced to make moves that aren't exactly wise for the long-term health of the organization at times.

That hurts bad enough with my farm-earned callus on my feet. I can't imagine with a fin. Poor shark.

This one could be....well, let's just say I am making plans for Wednesday.

Agreed on the hittable. He's not getting the late movement right now that he gets, but that will likely come, and that's what gives him more swing and miss. I'm curious your thoughts on the rest of the game's evaluation and if I had any of it through "Braves-colored glasses", as I do try to keep that perspective as tempered as possible while still being open that they are my favorite team. Strasburg will always be a guy who is incredibly fun and frustrating to watch. He should be one of the 2-3 best pitchers in the entire game with his raw stuff, but it's as if he hasn't learned anything from having Scherzer in the dugout with him the last few years. Scherzer picked up from Verlander that all the talent in the world means squat without learning to pitch around it. Stras all too often relies on that talent alone, which still is impressive, but won't ever get him to that next step.

Let's get real about the start. Keuchel opened with 3 perfectly-pitched innings. His first HBP to Victor Robles nearly got Braves manager Brian Snitker thrown out of the game. Needless to say, there was a heck of a lot of consternation from Nationals fans when Jose Tabata threw up an elbow to take an HBP and spoil Max Scherzer's perfect game with 2 outs in the 9th, but Victor Robles taking a step toward the pitch and then getting grazed is a sign of "gritty"... The 4th inning opened with an error on what should have been a deep infield single for Brian Dozier that Ozzie Albies attempted to make a highlight-reel play on, and missed the throw badly, placing Dozier on 2nd. On a 1-0 count, Robles drove a ball to deep right-center that showed exactly why Ronald Acuna may be one of the most gifted natural athletes in the game right now, but he's not a natural center fielder as he misplayed the ball, but it was ruled a triple. 1 run scored, should have been two errors. The Nationals sacrificed home a run on a well-done sacrifice to score their second run of the inning, but not before the ump missed a strike call badly in that at-bat that got Keuchel out of sorts and nibbling. That nibbling led to a home run from Yan Gomes as the next batter after the sacrifice. Brian McCann went out to speak with Keuchel during the home run, and Keuchel bore down to get a quick groundout from Strasburg and then strikeout Trea Turner to finish the inning. In the bottom of the 5th, Juan Soto hooked a ball perfectly down the line for a triple and Anthony Rendon followed with a deep infield single. Howie Kendrick scorched a ball right at Acuna in center that I'd wager would have been an out with Inciarte playing, but Acuna played it well enough to hold Kendrick to a single. Keuchel then worked around that to get out of the inning, but not before Robles AGAIN stepped into an HBP, this one just grazing his uniform and never touching his body. The umpires reportedly talked with both managers the next night to let them know that they'd reviewed both HBP and that if Robles did it again the rest of the series, he would not be awarded first base as what he was doing would qualify as encouraging the HBP and no base would be awarded. The Braves have been known for late-inning work this season (a team with a deep lineup that feasts on fastballs will typically do well in late innings in the modern game), but in spite of runners on in the 6th-9th innings, they couldn't push any runs across, and Keuchel took the hard-luck loss. I've watched a LOT of Pineda this year. He's got perhaps 1 or 2 starts better than that one this year...and I was not a fan of the Keuchel signing by the Braves, so I'm still quite skeptical, but he showed very well in his first start.

Julien is returning to Auburn officially, as of this morning.

I'll echo Mike on not understanding that was supposed to be satire, but like you said, this is not exactly the topic to choose to pick for a satirical moment for the state's GOP caucus.

Thanks for the heads-up on the review. I've purchased the book, but still working on another so I haven't started that one yet. I'm honestly curious if there's a real distinction between Bauer, who is a baseball savant but I'd never want to claim as a friend, and guys who have led the charge in data in the game over the years, all of whom have some significant ego (Bill James, Rob Neyer, etc.).

Completely agree. I'm just saying...

One thing going through political Twitter now is the way Mayor Pete's city has divided after he became mayor. Has to be something Trump would use against him.

What was that again?

The Oregon GOP is even proud of this... https://twitter.com/Oregon_GOP/status/1142619631095439360

I don't honestly have the certification on the products. That said, MLB suggests NSF, but they do not have any formal contract with NSF at this time. USADA does have a deal with NSF that allows for a reduced or even no punishment if they can show that an NSF-certified supplement was the source of their positive test. That hasn't been made public yet, but I can verify that this came into play during the National Female Open Powerlifting Championships in May when a competitor did test positive for a diuretic, but it turned out to be through an NSF-certified supplement and she received no punishment due to USADA's rules. Even if a player in the MLB would get popped with NSF-certified supplement, there is no change in how the league punishes him, which is complete BS. I return to...they need to figure this out.

Montas took a supplement (from sources) that was certified, but that supplement has now been pulled due to being tainted with exactly what Montas was caught with. How in the heck is the player responsible for that?! Certification in this country by any regulatory body is an absolute joke. Full-on anabolic steroids have been found in levels high enough to set off a test in supplements that are certified in the US.

Frankie Montas suspended 80 games. His statement identified a tainted supplement purchased within the US as the culprit. I investigated this after the Cano suspension, which was a legit tainted supplement. When will baseball follow the lead of leagues like the NFL and set up their own supplement certification/testing or even supply the supplements in house for all players on MLB 40-man rosters? The cost would not be prohibitive by any means, and it'd keep players from being damaged in this way. The issue is incredibly bad in Latin countries, many of which have either very little or no regulation on supplements sold in their country (the DR being in the latter group). I think it's nuts that the league continues to allow players to get a horrible stamp placed on them by the common fan when they took the same thing that common fan did, but the lack of regulation on the industry allowed for enough of something that triggered a bad test to show up in their system...

I've stocked up on cattle prods. Found out I can't use them on the children, so I suppose I'll keep the stock for life after revolution... (I sincerely hope all understand the kiddo comment is in jest)

There are companies that actually do that. Players can put themselves into a pool and the success of everyone in that pool pays out to those who are in the pool, so it's an investment sort of situation.

Losing McCutchen was crushing for that team and extremely underrated. He's still showing up as one of the top-performing free agents over the last 30 days in my fantasy leagues. He was pulling that team behind him when he went down, covering up what was already going on. With him out, it's come down like an avalanche.

Akin to most of those who are leaders in tech keeping their own children away from it...says a lot.

I haven't used shampoo or conditioner in roughly a half decade. When you remove your hair, there's no reason to attempt to wash it!

Or Charlotte, where they have the funding lined up and land already purchased. It's incredible the waiting game that multiple locales are doing on MLB right now...