gunnarthor

I agree but I was also surprised that fangraphs had Larnich in their top 100 list. So if BR is as high on Larnich, that certainly helps.

True, but we don't remember the big names that don't make it unless they are ours.

If they trade Dozier, they'd have an open spot on the 40 man for Gordon or Petit.

I don't want to get into that discussion. The way you phrased your post, I thought you meant that he was being demoted for some off the field incident/altercation that I hadn't read about.

What do you know about Sano?

I guess the FO is fully behind Molitor despite him now managing over two complete system failures. Frankly, Kepler could use some time in the minors right now, too. Since Sano got back, he's posted a 600 OPS and Kepler's posted a .603 OPS. (Kepler's posted a .629 OPS since May 1).

I think Reusse is backing neither.

So you think "keeping Kaepernick out of the NFL emboldens normalizes racist behavior" is the same as "drafting Heimlech normalizes his type of behavior"? Or did I misunderstand you?

It's nice that someone is speaking out against these problems and what did you think of Reusse's comparison to the newspaper industry willing to lose a few bucks and not give in.

Nice to see, I guess. I think that's a bit high but we've seen Kiriloff round back into form so that's probably some reason for the uptick.

I suspect players version of who is an awesome teammate often differ from fans and ownerships views. I remember Randy Moss was beloved in the Vikings locker room when ownership (and fans) sided with Childress.

https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-managers-perspective-ron-gardenhire-on-players-from-his-past/ Great read.

http://www.startribune.com/nfl-and-mlb-have-62-teams-combined-and-they-are-all-cowards/485387961/ Reusse argues that sports teams can't just let profit margins decide all decisions. "Or to put it more clearly: My view is that major league sports leagues and teams — which have fed gluttonously at the public trough — should be expected to take fair-minded stands, even when those might cut into profits." He compares the NFL's stance toward Kaepernick and MLB's refusal to draft some people as examples of cowardice. "If you’re a worker in this country, and you can watch competent football players — Kaepernick and Reid — go unsigned in an obvious case of blacklisting, and you side with the money-grubbing, parasitic 32 NFL teams, you have given it all up to The Man." And he ends with Teams "are afraid of the noise — just as Commissioner Roger Goodell and 32 NFL teams cowered in financial fear when the noisiest man in America, Donald John Trump, found a few silent anthem protests as an issue to make hay. Two leagues. Sixty-two teams. Cowards." I believe Reusee is right. The NFL's blacklisting has emboldened racists and also removed some talent from the QB position at a time when good QBs are hard to find. On baseball, he's just as right. MLB shouldn't be preventing juvenile actions to prohibit day one talent from playing ball. No one in these sports is doing this on principle but merely b/c they are afraid of public opinion.

I'm pretty sure Raines has that.

Holy crap. Did the use the voice over guy for Jabberwocky? (for those few who get the reference). https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2018/06/12/reporters-thought-this-video-was-north-korea-propaganda-it-came-from-the-white-house/?utm_term=.6d7d32c4246a

Wow, five for five, amazing. I got four but totally forgot about Raines.

Without looking it up, can anyone name the top 5 all time stolen base leaders in MLB history (1901 onward only)?

Probably too early to know/worry. AAA pitching staffs are better than AA ones, even if on a individual night, a AA starter might be the best pitcher Gordon faces in the minors. So Gordon will have to make some adjustments but the fact that he's hitting .300 with some pop is a good sign, even if he couldn't sustain it without making those changes in the long run.

Yeah, this is a big problem for the Dems. We're going to see voter rolls purged in every state soon. That decision was vile.

Yep, he's a diamond who had a lot of helium on draft day. mlbpipeline had him #127 on their list in 2016 an they wrote "While still a bit raw, there's a lot to like with this Auburn commit. At 6-foot-3, he's not physically developed yet. There's plenty of room to add strength and velocity. His arm works really well and fires fastballs up to 92 mph already, with heavy sink. He also has a good feel for his changeup. His breaking ball has a ways to go. Right now, it's a slurvy slider kind of caught in between a curve and a slider, with three-quarter break and thrown in the 79-82 mph range. He stays in the strike zone more often than not." BA wrote "Balazovic has a polished changeup that he can locate at the knees with late fade and tumbling action. He throws a breaking ball with 11-to-5 shape in the mid-70s. Balazovic gets his core extended over his front side well and extends his glove hand high for extra deception. Scouts note how rare it is for him to be squared up." Twins signed him for 150k over slot in the 2016 draft. Balazovic was young for his draft class and could have returned to 13th grade in Canada to get drafted the next year, he also had a strong commit to Auburn. He needs to pitch and stay healthy but he has real nice upside. Side note but the 2016 draft is going to push the 2012 draft for the best Twins draft in the last 15 years. The Twins went nuts on high upside and really young high schoolers - 2nd rounders Baddoo and Miranda, 5th rounder Balazovic, 17th rounder Kidany Salva and 28th rounder Matt Jones (also from Canada) were all 17 on draft day. They also picked Kiriloff and Rortvedt and Tyler Benninghoff for over slot in the 11th round.

I'm not sure we're disagreeing on a basic idea - baseball should be more popular with kids - so much as the impact of that. Nothing you've posted (and this article is three years old already) suggests a new problem for the sport. You seem to think that if someone isn't a fan at 12 they won't be a fan at 42. That's just not the case. The problem of the younger generation isn't getting solved by making changes to the sport itself. Ways to get kids involved in the sport might require more funding for the RBI program, more youth baseball camps in rural areas, mlb creating playing fields in communities, promoting its stars, etc. Things like letting the Yankees pick their post-season opponent isn't likely to make kids watch and will piss off people who have enjoyed playoff baseball for most of their lives. The problem isn't the product on the field (with the three outcomes style potentially being an on-field problem).

Do you have a source for that or is it just what you're seeing? Attendance for baseball and football have dropped roughly the same as people don't go to games as much anymore. But we've heard "baseball is dying" stories for several generations now.

I don't think the 7-15 year old sports today fan would be much different than the 7-15 year old sports fan who grew up in the 80s. MLB could do some tinkering - the three outcomes baseball is boring - but, generally, of the four major sports, it's the one I'm most comfortable saying will still exist in 50 years.

I'm not sure you're really onto anything. Baseball has always been a sport that was too boring for young people. It was the same when I was a kid. People grow into the sport. Baseball attendance is still great and of the major sports, they somehow seem to be the best at using the internet and social media for other revenue streams. They could use some improvement in marketing - no one today rivals the popularity that Jeter or Ichiro used to have, for example, but the on-field product is pretty good right now.

Agreed. Not sure what's wrong with him but he's not getting the number of grounders and strike outs that I think he should be getting. He'll probably eventually get a call up but he's not looking like an big future part of the pen.