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bizaff

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Everything posted by bizaff

  1. bizaff
    I believe this is a very solvable problem. From ze rules: I think it's safe to round the strike zone off to a rectangular solid.. I suppose a breaking ball could clip the point at the back, so for argument's sake, keep it a 5 sided solid, which a single camera from above can easily detect. A computer can determine where knees, shoulders, and pants are fairly easily with various image recognition. The only trick I can think of is when to capture the upper and lower bounds of the strike zone, and a warm body can do that if you sync a camera to the pitcher. Even if a computer can't figure the height automagically, let the warm body do that for each player.. at the beginning of the at bat, or game, or once a year. With the right definition, it's no longer subjective.
  2. bizaff
    Citing that most sports have human officiating is not an argument to oppose automated officiating, in my opinion. In the sports that do use automated officiating, it systematically overrules human officiating. Why is this? Because the automated officiating is more reliable. If it's more reliable, why not use it more? I don't watch baseball for the umpires. The only thing I like to see umpires do is get animated when delivering a close call THAT'S CORRECT. I'd be perfectly ok if all the umpires were in a booth with slow motion available to make sure everything's right. With the right equipment, that should take an extra 2-5 seconds per call. It helps to have an extra warm body on the field to make a call that the fans can see, so be it - put a wire in his ear to talk to the boys upstairs. I don't necessarily want to eliminate people making these calls, I just want them to get it right. If getting it right means using technology, it's a no-brainer. If the technology means you don't need a person making the call, what good does the warm body do?
  3. bizaff
    I agree completely. And if it turns out hitters are swinging less, then adjust the strike zone to be what it really should be. If hitters swing less because it's hard for pitchers to hit the strike zone, then that shows that the specification of the strike zone is broken and/or has been broken for a long time, not that this new, correct enforcement of the rules is a problem.
  4. bizaff
    I fundamentally don't understand the argument FOR umpires calling balls and strikes. The strike zone is explicitly called out in the rules. Umpires introduce a lot of uncertainty about how to interpret that. The reason the "skill" and "strategy" of a catcher and the strike zone exist is because umpires can't be that accurate. Yes it's history, yes it can be interesting how pitchers and batters have to adjust to this umpire, or even how this umpire is calling today. But I don't see that as a benefit to the game. Hitters and pitchers both complain about bad calls. Why let the most neutral (by definition) people involved in the game have such an impact on the outcome?
  5. bizaff
    I agree, I don't really like all the commercials, but I just don't see it EVER going away - that's where a good chunk of the money comes from for owners. When they talk about speeding up the game, they never say "without sacrificing commercials" or the like. Does anyone know how they negotiate TV time? Do the contracts to the sports network specify exactly how commercials are built in? I know there was at least one pitching change in the playoffs where they stuck with the game rather than stopping for a commercial, which I loved.
  6. bizaff
    I think the way they portray the problem doesn't match what they really want.. Baseball doesn't want to "shorten games", they want to "shorten games without losing ad time". No way they get rid of the commercial break for a new pitcher coming in - that's real money they make. I highly doubt they shorten any break from 2 min - more lost ad time. I really like the idea there are NO clocks in baseball.. if they decide to add it to MLB I hope they don't show it, just the umpire knows when it expires.
  7. bizaff
    I suppose one could argue that first one was fair, but what about the $22MM extension? Doing a little research: http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/eye-on-baseball/24485200/glen-perkins-hometown-discount-with-twins-was-his-suggestion http://www.si.com/mlb/strike-zone/2014/03/17/glen-perkins-extension-minnesota-twins http://m.mlb.com/news/article/69324232/minnesota-twins-sign-closer-glen-perkins-to-extension-through-2017 http://twinsdaily.com/_/minnesota-twins-news/minnesota-twins/ten-to-extend-a-five-part-series-part-2-r4468 http://twinsdaily.com/articles.html/_/minnesota-twins-news/minnesota-twins/glen-perkins-signs-extension-with-twins-r2404 http://twinsdaily.com/articles.html/_/minnesota-twins-news/spring-training-2015/glen-perkins-looking-to-move-on-r3507
  8. bizaff
    Over the last few weeks I've seen a lot of references to trading Perkins at peak value. I assume he took the hometown discount to stay home. If a GM trades away someone who took the hometown discount, that GM (or team) will probably never get the hometown discount again. I don't hold Ryan accountable for not trading Perkins - I think it's clearly the right thing to hang onto him unless Perkins was ok with it.
  9. bizaff
    Thanks for the info. I'm very interested in hearing about how he's responding to off-speed stuff - is he laying off, and is he starting to make good contact. I found http://m.milb.com/2016_05_04_rocaaa_syraaa_1#/js/2016_05_04_rocaaa_syraaa_1/plays/ but that doesn't have the count information - where are you finding yours? What I really want is stuff like http://twinsdaily.com/topic/22301-article-twins-minor-league-report-52-wheeler-deals-in-complete-game-loss/?do=findComment&comment=474029 but I get it if only people seeing the game can report it.
  10. bizaff
    Anyone have any detailed information about Buxton's at bats? I'm probably going to be a broken record in these Minor League Reports asking about them
  11. bizaff
    Any idea if Buxton's hits were on fastballs or breaking balls? Anyone know if/where you can find video?
  12. bizaff
    Don't get me wrong, I agree completely, and I don't think the award is in any way undeserved. But I still think it's funny
  13. bizaff
    I think the Media Good Guy award is pretty funny based on a certain interview in late 2014.
  14. bizaff
    My first thought when Mauer came up in the 10th was to bunt - think that's a mistake? I found this: http://www.tangotiger.net/welist.html which shows it only gives you about 2% better chance to win. But Mauer RISP, gut, blah blah.
  15. bizaff
    I thought I heard on the TV broadcast last night that Phil Hughes's next start would be pushed back.
  16. bizaff
    I remember watching SportsCenter coverage of this game after with the announcement that the Twins we leading the series 5-3.
  17. bizaff
    Cause anytime I hear Mauer catcher suggestions, I hear that song in my head.. I figured I'd inflict that on everyone else
  18. bizaff
    Joe is never ever ever going back to catcher Mauer is never ever ever going back to catcher You go talk to Ryan talk to Molly talk to me But Mauer is never ever ever ever going back to catcher
  19. bizaff
    I don't think the buck stops at Ryan.
  20. bizaff
    I don't understand the argument against it, but I want to. When you say important strategic and fundamental aspects, are you referring how the pitcher and hitter have to adjust to what a human umpire is calling for balls and strikes? Is it just that simple or am I leaving out part of the argument against robot-umpires?
  21. bizaff
    When a batter is on deck, he sometimes puts a baseball doughnut on his bat (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baseball_doughnut). When he's up, he thumps the knob of the bat on the on-deck circle (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On-deck) to shake the doughnut off. The chirp is the doughnut clinking off the circle. This drove me nuts for the longest time till I saw the camera catch an on-deck batter doing it.
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