Other Baseball

Christian Encarnacion-Strand making loud noise. https://www.mlb.com/news/christian-encarnacion-strand-impressing-with-loud-power?partnerId=zh-20230304-844026-mlb-1-A&qid=1026&utm_id=zh-20230304-844026-mlb-1-A&bt_ee=LGfhrWvHCzGp%2BKSiEcD1hNSOsjV%2BwaiMco%2FPmxPC2obVzWyjRjcIm7AFGiHTPvCG&bt_ts=1677940998229

Looks like the signup dates will be March 28 - April 4. I find the T-Mobile Tuesdays app as a good option for easy sign-up. You do need to have an mlb.com account as well. Offer Info on T-Mobile

With baseball awakening from its slumber, join us on a trip through the AL Central, observing what each team has done—and still needs to do—in order to claim the division crown. Image courtesy of © Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports How did last season go? Terrible. After a surprisingly competent showing in 2021, the Motor City Kitties fell back into their typical post-2016 swampy waters, finding themselves stuck in a 66-win quagmire. It was a …

I asked ChatGPT to create a fact based argument in favor of bunting. Thought you might enjoy. Bunting in baseball is a technique where a batter holds the bat in a stationary position in order to lightly tap the ball and move it into play. While it is a controversial strategy among baseball enthusiasts, there are some factual arguments in favor of bunting in certain situations. …

With Lux going out for the season would the Dodgers have interest and what would they be willing to give up for Farmer or Gordon. If you could capitalize on selling Gordon as a SS with the production he had a year ago and the years on control left could he bring in a solid prospect or 2? View full rumor

With baseball awakening from its slumber, join us on a trip through the AL Central, observing what each team has done—and still needs to do—in order to claim the division crown. Image courtesy of Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports How did last season go? Poorly. Again. The Royals extended their post-World Series rebuild another season, failing to crack .500 for the sixth straight season. They couldn’t pitch, but they made up for it by no…

Only a week into spring training games and already umpires have had a couple bad-look stories. First CB Buckner refused to shake the Cardinals manager's hand (he was apparently still bitter about an argument from last August), forcing MLB to step in and make them hug-it-out. Now today, in the Pirates/O's game, the umpires refused to work an extra half inning, when the Pirates, the home team, had already technically won the game, but the O's wanted to get one more reliever some in-game work, so asked the Pirates to still play the bottom of the ninth. The Pirates agreed, but the umps refused to work the extra half inning and walked off the field leaving the teams to call t…

Looks like SD and Machado got it done. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/02/padres-manny-machado-finalizing-extension.html

I am sure that everyone here has heard about the commotion between Bally sports and MLB. If Bally doesn’t pay every single one of the teams on time, Rob Manfred says that all of the teams that have contracts with Bally will get rid of them, and MLB will remove blackouts. Some people are grumbling over this, but I think it could be a good thing. For starters, it costs way less in the MLB app. MLB tv costs 150$ a year, while Directv has a high price of 900 a year. I could get everything but Bally on a much cheaper streaming service if I wanted and still pay for MLB and it would be 3x less that Directv. The MLB app is also designed better, as Directv has been know to crash. …

Oooh, this is exciting. After years of sitting on their hands while the game crumbled, MLB has been actively pursuing improvements to the game and I have to give them credit for making (mostly) right decisions. First, they ended the lockout in a relatively timely fashion. I could have gone with less drama but teams played 162, which I was doubtful would happen. I'm a big fan of most of the new rules changes, particularly the pitch clock. A couple of months ago, they hired a former RSN executive to evaluate blackouts and how to end them. When Diamond showed signs of going belly-up, Manfred said MLB is open to acquiring the rights. All of this is good. It's long overdu…

Remember when people were talking about Miguel Sano being “the next David Ortiz?” Ha. That sure didn’t happen. Sure, Sano had a few good years with the twins, and was a fan favorite, but that k rate always lingering around 30% sure didn’t help his play on the field. I think it was pretty obvious all along that sano wasn’t going to be the next David Ortiz, but the twins pulled the last straw when after just an ok 2021 season, he was injured, and in his 60 at bats, only managed to get five hits. That’s only a 083 batting average! They obviously turned down his 10m$ option and little has been heard about him since. We did hear he had gone to Tampa Bay’s facility’s, but that …

Hall Of Fame Baseball Broadcaster Tim McCarver Dead At 81 Of course Tim McCarver was a great player in his own right - playing from 1959 to 1980, mostly with the Cardinals at catcher, being named to All-Star team twice and winning two World Series - but I loved McCarver as part of the announce team that called the 1987 Minnesota Twins World Series win over the St. Louis Cardinals. My favorite moment was when they returned from commercial break in Game 6 - after Kent Hrbek's grand slam - and Al Michaels says "Here's Hrbek with natural sound hitting it out;" and less than five seconds later McCarver starts talking again, only for someone to remind him that no one's sup…

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/02/mlb-mlbpa-discussing-rule-change-regarding-position-players-pitching.html I think this is another potentially good rule but it depends on when and how it is implemented, but I do think this practice should be limited.

It was talked about a few weeks ago that Diamond Sports, the parent company for Balley broadcasting, is set to go bankrupt and not pay their bills at the end of this month. Many people just brushed it under the rug thinking some other broadcasting company would step in. However, it may not be that simple. Came across this article yesterday. https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/35668388/rob-manfred-mlb-ready-diamond-sports-group-pay-teams This basically states if Bally fails to pay the teams their money for broadcasting rights, the MLB will step in to broadcast games for the 14 teams that use Bally as a broadcast company. There is still a lot to work out if t…

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/02/cubs-sign-michael-fulmer.html

The link isn't up yet, but former Twin Brent Rooker will host a live q and a via mlbtraderumors.com at noon today. When I see a link I'll pass it along. Send him any questions you may have.

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/01/marlins-devin-smeltzer-agree-to-minor-league-contract.html Per MLBTR, Devins Smeltzer has signed a Minor Leagie deal with a ST Invite with the Marlins. I for one wish you well Devin and God Speed this next season. View full rumor

The Twins employ a large group of analysts who gather metrics large and small and they do this in order to gain a competitive advantage over competition. Every major league team employs large groups of people who gather metrics large and small and because all teams do it... this minimizes the completive advantage that can be gained by any team. The Twins employ scouts who gather intel on opposing players and they gather intel on their own players and they do this to gain a competitive advantage over competition. Every major league team employs scouts who gather intel on players and because all teams do it... it minimizes the competitive advantage that can…

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/02/luis-arraez-wins-arbitration-hearing-marlins.html

Full story: https://www.mlb.com/news/caribbean-series-2023-set-to-begin-in-venezuela

Every time we remember to pay attention, they're just doing something kinda crappy to their players. I have come to dislike that franchise immensely.

Our old friend Tyler Duffey just latched on with the Cubbies on a minor league deal.

AL Champ Arraez traded. NL Champ Jeff McNeil just signed an extension 4yrs $50 million. Both are career .300+ hitters. They really arent valued like they used to be.

Congratulations to Scott Rolen on his Induction to the Baseball Hall of Fame!

https://theathletic.com/4118906/2023/01/25/mlb-hitting-coach-jobs/ Really interesting article on The Athletic today for those who have a subscription. Some interesting tidbits for those who can't, or don't want to, read it: "The average length of tenure for active MLB hitting coaches is about 2.4 years." Only 2 MLB hitting coaches have held their current position for more than 5 years (Seitzer in Atlanta, Mottola in Tampa) Seitzer talks about the transition in Atlanta as the organization got deeper into the analytics and how it changed his job there. Seitzer also says he thinks Ks are up because of how crazy the pitching is now. Higher velocity on breaki…

His name came up during the Bauer investigation, so was this really unexpected? https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/01/mike-clevinger-under-investigation-for-domestic-violence-allegations.html Never liked him. Glad he's on the White Sox, and they get to deal with him.

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2022/12/willians-astudillo-signs-with-npbs-fukuoka-softbank-hawks.html

Marwin Gonzalez signed with last year's champion Orix Buffaloes for $1.5 mil. https://www.sportskeeda.com/baseball/news-mlb-twitter-reacts-marwin-gonzalez-signing-japan-s-orix-buffaloes-it-s-time-retire-red-sox-got-outbid-again#:~:text=After 11 major-league seasons,top league%2C Nippon Professional Baseball.

Looks like both targets from last summer (Montas & Mahle) have shoulder questions. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/01/frankie-montas-expected-to-miss-first-month-of-season.html