Other Baseball

We had a thread for items around the baseball world that were worth sharing but not worth a thread of their own. Now that the 2018 season is over, I'll start this new one for the off-season.

Here's thread for general (non-Twins) 2019 MLB postseason discussion!

How about a postseason game thread? Any MLB postseason discussion can just go here.

Murphy: nowhere to be found Hicks: .318 Ba, 3 HR, 1.100 OPS Oops!

I sadly have to post this with my favorite player leaving my favorite team. The Braves traded Andrelton Simmons and Jose Briceno to the Angels for Erick Aybar, Sean Newcomb, Christopher Ellis, and cash. Sucks.

My first prediction is that WA signs their two big possible FAs to extensions. My next is that Cole goes to LAA. The White Sox sign two good/medium staring pitchers fast in FA.

I can no longer say I want the Twins to emulate the Astros. Bush league maneuver to use cameras in order to steal signs.

Twins still doing nothing.

The place for discussion about this year’s playoffs.

Jeff Passan is reporting that there was enough progress at today's 2 hour meeting that they're going to meet again tomorrow. https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/33140500/mlb-players-association-plan-meet-again-tuesday-sides-make-progress-sources-say This hardly means much, but I'll take progress at this point. Update...

Forgot to make one of these threads to keep track of other stuff around the league.

I've mentioned former Miami Marlin and now Tampa Bay Ray RP Nick Anderson as an obvious Twins' deadline target for the pen previously. They obviously should have known enough about his background, considering that he's originally from Brainerd, Mn and pitched well within the Twins' organization for the previous 4 years prior to 2019. Clearly, the homework on Anderson was already complete- besides his ties to the Twins, the FO obviously perused the entire Marlins' staff fairly thoroughly, before ultimately deciding on making a deal for Sergio Romo. The only question left on acquiring Anderson was the asking price. Well, the deadline came and went, the Twins picked up Sam…

As the off-season is over, thought we might have this thread back for non-Twins, non-thread worthy news and tidbits. Watching The White Sox blow a 3-1 8th inning lead to Cleveland. 5-3 now, the last 2 Cleveland runs coming off bases loaded walks. Hard to decide who to root against in this matchup.

We’ve always been led to believe that the overwhelming majority of calls were right. Boy, was that bull. Robo. Umps. NOW! 20% incorrect is UNACCEPTABLE!! Note, I keep trying to make this an active link, but it keeps not working. Try this one: https://theconversation.com/an-analysis-of-nearly-4-million-pitches-shows-just-how-many-mistakes-umpires-make-114874

1,000th topic in this thread, so I say we do a game. Each post in this thread names a Major League Baseball player. Let's see if we can get up to 1,000 with no duplicates. Can be current or past major leaguers, no minor leaguers. I will start: Julio Franco

MLB has announced new rules for slides into second base in DP situations. Tough rule to write, but I think it's a good start. I like the parts about not altering the path to intentionally contact the infielder, being able to AND attempting to contact the bag, and putting the neighborhood play to rest. Also some tweaks to pace of game. http://m.mlb.com/news/article/165429062/pace-of-game-changes-new-slide-rule-adopted

First "big" trade of the offseason went down today with Adam Lind moving from the Blue Jays to the Brewers for Marco Estrada in a move that gives the Blue Jays more pitching and saves them roughly $3M. MLB Trade Rumors also put up their predictions on the big free agents this year. You can check it out here: http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2014/11/2014-15-top-50-free-agents-with-predictions.html BTW, if you haven't found it yet, MLB Trade Rumors started a new podcast, and I've found it to be an excellent news source thus far. Check it out on iTunes or your podcast provider!

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-league-stew/bo-porter-leaves-astros-dugout-to-confront-jed-lowrie-over-unwritten-rules-violation-075115326.html I believe this piece of evidence is numbered 6,899,987 in the long list of why baseball would be better off doing away with this nonsense.

Adam LaRoche is walking away from baseball after a 12 year career. The 36 year old was due to make $13 million this season with the Chicago White Sox, and has made over $70 million in his career. Here's the link of the story.

Meyer logged another poor start for the Angels last night. He had a poor one in AAA prior, but the Angels apparently needed an arm to fill in for Tyler Skaggs so back to MLB he came. Basically the same issues that plagued him in Minnesota: http://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/news/angels-alex-meyer-struggles-again-thursday/ With Skaggs and Richards out, it will be interesting to see if Meyer gets a long-term opportunity here, and what comes of it. The Angels are not brimming with options, but they are still in the contention mix.

You're a senior BBWAA writer, you get 10 votes. How does your ballot look? The candidates: • Jeff Bagwell • Craig Biggio • Barry Bonds • Roger Clemens • Tom Glavine • Jeff Kent • Greg Maddux • Edgar Martinez • Don Mattingly • Fred McGriff • Mark McGwire • Jack Morris • Mike Mussina • Rafael Palmeiro • Mike Piazza • Tim Raines • Curt Schilling • Lee Smith • Sammy Sosa • Frank Thomas • Alan Trammell • Larry Walker http://www.mlb.com/news/article/mlb/greg-maddux-tom-glavine-headline-stacked-baseball-hall-of-fame-ballot?content_id=64183074&partnerId=as_mlb_20131126_14982564&vkey=news_mlb&ymd=20131124

Cubs acquire Jose Quintana from WhiteSox for Eloy Jiménez, Dylan Cease, Matt Rose and Bryant Flete. Pretty high price tag, Cubs top two prospects in Jiménez and Cease.

Jeez, if the White Sox get him on an 8/250 deal, I'll scream. http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/25755553/manny-machado-8-year-offer-via-chicago-white-sox That's a future HOFer locked in for his age 26-33 seasons. Twins should and could top that. They won't b/c ownership sucks.

Various news sources report that the Cleveland franchise of MLB is removing the American Indian caricature logo from caps and uniforms after the 2018 season. I don't know why it's not being done immediately, and I think it's time for the team name to be changed as well, but I guess some progress is better than none.

Pitched a gem the other night for them. $20 says he becomes a solid #2 for them for the next 4-5 years.

A place for baseball's many amusements that don't warrant a thread of their own. http://nbchardballtalk.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/ericchavezcodyeppleyballhead.gif

This evening, the Oakland A's traded All Star 3B Josh Donaldson, one of baseball's most valuable players the last couple of seasons, to the Toronto Blue Jays. In return, they received 3B Brett Lawrie, RHP Kendall Graveman, LHP Sean Nolin and SS Franklin Barreto.

We don't have one yet, so here's your thread for all things NOT Twins-related... First, to start...Clayton Kershaw - still f'ing good.

Game 7! What's not to like... Which "curse" will end tonight? I can guarantee one of the will win! Here are the lineups: CUBS Dexter Fowler CF Kyle Schwarber DH Kris Bryant 3B Anthony Rizzo 1B Ben Zobrist LF Addison Russell SS Willson Contreras C Jason Heyward RF Javier Baez 2B SP: Kyle Hendricks CLEVELAND Carlos Santana DH Jason Kipnis 2B Francisco Lindor SS Mike Napoli 1B Jose Ramirez 3B Lonnie Chisenhall RF Rajai Davis CF Coco Crisp LF Roberto Perez C SP: Corey Kluber