MLB March/April 2014

Ryan · Post by **Ryan** » Mon Apr 21, 2014 2:26 pm

mister d wrote:I like how no one seems to take issue with 23 year old Gerrit Cole starting shit by lecturing 28 year old Carlos Gomez.

Man up and include their ethnicities

Giff · Post by **Giff** » Mon Apr 21, 2014 3:03 pm

Cole seemed like he felt bad about it in his post-game interview. Unless there was some sort of slur thrown in there, they are probably focusing on Gomez because he went batshit crazy at a couple words.

Rex · Post by **Rex** » Mon Apr 21, 2014 3:17 pm

Russell Martin (ethnicity: Canadian) says that Martin Maldonado should be forceably restrained and sucker punched in the face:

http://thebiglead.com/2014/04/21/russel ... tes-brawl/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Gunpowder · Post by **Gunpowder** » Mon Apr 21, 2014 4:29 pm

Baseball players remain the worst. It's like 15 year old girls on steroids.

Gunpowder · Post by **Gunpowder** » Tue May 06, 2014 8:20 pm

Gregory Polanco (big-time Pirates prospect) turned down a 7 year contract. He'll be in the minors until June, you know, to finish the development that would have been unnecessary if he had signed the contract.

I hate Super 2. Needs to go away.

Gunpowder · Post by **Gunpowder** » Tue May 06, 2014 8:33 pm

The Pirates "Shark Tank" bullpen of 2013 has turned into the Stagnant Garbage Water of 2014. They are awful.

Gunpowder · Post by **Gunpowder** » Tue May 06, 2014 8:48 pm

Pirates win on a walk-off replay!

mister d · Post by **mister d** » Wed May 07, 2014 8:11 am

Have any numbers been thrown around? He wasn't a big time bonus kid (3 different numbers on google, all < $200K) so either he loves risk or they were offering him something he would hit almost no matter what in arbitration.

rass · Post by **rass** » Wed May 07, 2014 8:29 am

mister d wrote:Have any numbers been thrown around? He wasn't a big time bonus kid (3 different numbers on google, all < $200K) so either he loves risk or they were offering him something he would hit almost no matter what in arbitration.

numbers

mister d · Post by **mister d** » Wed May 07, 2014 8:33 am

Yeah, I get it now. Its a major, major risk, but he should hit $50MM in 10 years even if he's just a passable corner OF.

Gunpowder · Post by **Gunpowder** » Wed May 07, 2014 8:37 am

I'd probably offer him 7 years and $35 mil or so and call him up yesterday. The team is admitting he's ready to play yet is keeping him down for "development". I understand but I think that part of the system is mad shady, yo. Thought it was shady when the Astros did it Springer as well, although he sucks now, so whatever.

mister d · Post by **mister d** » Wed May 07, 2014 8:41 am

Yeah, I bet that would get it done. Its those option years that kill any chance of him agreeing.

Super Two is one of those rules that makes sense until you think about it for 10 seconds. Seems much more like an NHL thing than MLB.

Gunpowder · Post by **Gunpowder** » Wed May 07, 2014 8:48 am

Team option years are insane for any player to accept. There's no potential upside that I can see and I'm thinking about it hard.

mister d · Post by **mister d** » Wed May 07, 2014 8:49 am

Don't let every NFL player hear you say that.

Gunpowder · Post by **Gunpowder** » Wed May 07, 2014 8:53 am

Are you talking about the rookie deals or the fact that basically every single NFL contract is a series of team options?

mister d · Post by **mister d** » Wed May 07, 2014 9:21 am

Latter.

Gunpowder · Post by **Gunpowder** » Wed May 07, 2014 10:01 am

I'm truly surprised that a star player like perhaps Tom Brady doesn't say "oh, and I want every year fully guaranteed or I'm going to Arizona".

Post by **brian** » Wed May 07, 2014 10:05 am

Gunpowder wrote:I'm truly surprised that a star player like perhaps Tom Brady doesn't say "oh, and I want every year fully guaranteed or I'm going to Arizona".

Most of the rookie deals now ARE fully guaranteed (or damn near close to it minus roster bonuses, etc.), but since the labor deal they're obviously for nowhere near the same amount of money the rookies were getting. Ironically, just about the only players who get fully guaranteed deals are rookies. That said, I agree with you. I'm surprised that isn't a negotiating tactic amongst teams for free agents.

degenerasian · Post by **degenerasian** » Wed May 07, 2014 10:08 am

The earlier Billy Hamilton discussion got me thinking. What if he bunted every time. Practiced bunting 5 hours a day.

With his speed could he bunt .300? I'm thinking the same for Anthony Gose.

Gunpowder · Post by **Gunpowder** » Wed May 07, 2014 10:16 am

degenerasian wrote:The earlier Billy Hamilton discussion got me thinking. What if he bunted every time. Practiced bunting 5 hours a day.

With his speed could he bunt .300? I'm thinking the same for Anthony Gose.

Probably not or else he would. Why would the third baseman play back if all he does is bunt?

What if Pedro Alvarez practiced hitting 10 hours a day - would he stop striking out? There are marginal returns on things like that.

degenerasian · Post by **degenerasian** » Wed May 07, 2014 10:31 am

Bunting you're making contact every time, it's just a matter of keeping it fair.

How far does the 3rd baseman play in, he could still beat it out, or bunt it harder past him (between 3rd baseman and pitcher)

A_B · Post by **A_B** » Wed May 07, 2014 10:32 am

Shit. Someone get Bryan Price on the phone.

Gunpowder · Post by **Gunpowder** » Wed May 07, 2014 10:33 am

degenerasian wrote:Bunting you're making contact every time, it's just a matter of keeping it fair.

How far does the 3rd baseman play in, he could still beat it out, or bunt it harder past him (between 3rd baseman and pitcher)

And it's hard to do or everyone would be awesome at it. Starling Marte presumably practices bunting more than most other facets of his game because he tries to bunt for hits so often and he's still terrible at it.

Fangraphs ran an article detailing why hitters dont bunt more against the shift - because bunting for hits is really, really hard.

degenerasian · Post by **degenerasian** » Wed May 07, 2014 10:39 am

Gunpowder wrote:
degenerasian wrote:Bunting you're making contact every time, it's just a matter of keeping it fair.

How far does the 3rd baseman play in, he could still beat it out, or bunt it harder past him (between 3rd baseman and pitcher)

And it's hard to do or everyone would be awesome at it. Starling Marte presumably practices bunting more than most other facets of his game because he tries to bunt for hits so often and he's still terrible at it.

Fangraphs ran an article detailing why hitters dont bunt more against the shift - because bunting for hits is really, really hard.

Interesting. Even against the shift? Defenses only shift against fat guys. Those guys are stubborn (Ted Willams school of hitting) or they just don't practice. I can't imagine Ryan Howard even practices one single bunt ever. He also doesn't want to run and beat out anything, might hurt himself again.

Ryan · Post by **Ryan** » Wed May 07, 2014 10:42 am

degenerasian wrote:The earlier Billy Hamilton discussion got me thinking. What if he bunted every time. Practiced bunting 5 hours a day.

He dropped one down last night (as a pinch hitter because why not), and while it wasn't perfect and not a surprise, I thought he'd beat it out easily when contact was made. Instead, an old reliever fielded it and threw him out by 5 feet.

mister d · Post by **mister d** » Wed May 07, 2014 11:06 am

Its also impossible to practice against truly live pitching because if you can live pitch at an MLB level you're an MLB pitcher.

Gunpowder · Post by **Gunpowder** » Wed May 07, 2014 11:16 am

degenerasian wrote:
Gunpowder wrote:
degenerasian wrote:Bunting you're making contact every time, it's just a matter of keeping it fair.

How far does the 3rd baseman play in, he could still beat it out, or bunt it harder past him (between 3rd baseman and pitcher)

And it's hard to do or everyone would be awesome at it. Starling Marte presumably practices bunting more than most other facets of his game because he tries to bunt for hits so often and he's still terrible at it.

Fangraphs ran an article detailing why hitters dont bunt more against the shift - because bunting for hits is really, really hard.
Interesting. Even against the shift? Defenses only shift against fat guys. Those guys are stubborn (Ted Willams school of hitting) or they just don't practice. I can't imagine Ryan Howard even practices one single bunt ever. He also doesn't want to run and beat out anything, might hurt himself again.

Defenses shift against damn near everybody that warrants it.

But yeah, nobody practices or else they'd be awesome at it. Because you get awesome at everything you practice!

Gunpowder · Post by **Gunpowder** » Wed May 07, 2014 11:17 am

If practicing excessively made you awesome at everything, Shaq would have done so (which I believe he did) and shot say 95% at free throws. But it doesn't and it probably wouldn't be beneficial for Hamilton to take this approach. He probably gets on at a better rate when he hits the ball on the ground rather than bunts it.

EDITED because I didn't like my tone.

mister d · Post by **mister d** » Wed May 07, 2014 11:20 am

Or just shrink his stupid hands.

Ryan · Post by **Ryan** » Wed May 07, 2014 12:00 pm

Hey idiots, Shaq could make a free throw anytime if he wanted to. [/ichiroed]

mister d · Post by **mister d** » Wed May 07, 2014 12:40 pm

Wasn't that originally [/boggs'd]? Maybe you were just paying too much attention to the Pats in the 80s.

Gunpowder · Post by **Gunpowder** » Wed May 07, 2014 1:29 pm

mister d wrote:Wasn't that originally [/boggs'd]? Maybe you were just paying too much attention to the Pats in the 80s.

/Cobb'd

Ryan · Post by **Ryan** » Wed May 07, 2014 3:12 pm

Schedule oddities here of course, but the Marlins are only the 37th team since 1914 (out of 2,184 possibilities) to win 2 or less times on the road over their first 34 total games. I don't see an easy way to figure out how many of the others had an overall winning record.

Post by **Sabo** » Wed May 07, 2014 3:22 pm

Sometimes it's awesome to root for a team that sucks and has a bad fan base. I scored two tickets on StubHub for tonight's Twins-Indians game. Third row behind home plate for $35 each. Normal price is $90. Yes, I know the downside is I have to watch the Twins and Indians play, but still ...

degenerasian · Post by **degenerasian** » Wed May 07, 2014 3:27 pm

Sabo wrote:Sometimes it's awesome to root for a team that sucks and has a bad fan base. I scored two tickets on StubHub for tonight's Twins-Indians game. Third row behind home plate for $35 each. Normal price is $90. Yes, I know the downside is I have to watch the Twins and Indians play, but still ...

how's the weather tonight?

Post by **Sabo** » Wed May 07, 2014 3:36 pm

degenerasian wrote:
Sabo wrote:Sometimes it's awesome to root for a team that sucks and has a bad fan base. I scored two tickets on StubHub for tonight's Twins-Indians game. Third row behind home plate for $35 each. Normal price is $90. Yes, I know the downside is I have to watch the Twins and Indians play, but still ...

how's the weather tonight?

Game time temperature will be in the upper 60s. But during the spring and early summer, downtown Cleveland is always at least 10 degrees colder than what's officially reported. So it will be cool, but not freezing.

degenerasian · Post by **degenerasian** » Wed May 07, 2014 3:48 pm

Sabo wrote:
degenerasian wrote:
Sabo wrote:Sometimes it's awesome to root for a team that sucks and has a bad fan base. I scored two tickets on StubHub for tonight's Twins-Indians game. Third row behind home plate for $35 each. Normal price is $90. Yes, I know the downside is I have to watch the Twins and Indians play, but still ...

how's the weather tonight?
Game time temperature will be in the upper 60s. But during the spring and early summer, downtown Cleveland is always at least 10 degrees colder than what's officially reported. So it will be cool, but not freezing.

GREAT!

That's why it's awesome to have a baseball team no matter how bad they are or how bad the fanbase is.
I have a cousin in Montreal, he really misses the Expos.

degenerasian · Post by **degenerasian** » Wed May 07, 2014 5:38 pm

we all agree sacrificing is stupid?

Mariners sacrificing a runner from 2nd to 3rd with 0 outs in the top of the 10th with Cano on deck.

Idiots.

mister d · Post by **mister d** » Wed May 07, 2014 6:57 pm

Unless its a pitcher or Brendan Ryan, yes.

Gunpowder · Post by **Gunpowder** » Wed May 07, 2014 9:25 pm

I don't necessarily hate it there. Odds of scoring are slightly higher with a man on 3rd and 1 out (66.7%) than on 2nd with 0 out (63.3%). These numbers don't account for who is hitting and are based on the run scoring environment from 1984-1994.

http://www.nssl.noaa.gov/users/brooks/p ... druns.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

There are more recent ones but that showed up on my Google search.