Other Baseball

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

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

Interesting article in Wapo about the plate umpiring, the players and managers thoughts on it, and some comparisons to the unintended consequences the NFL is dealing with due to an expansion of electronic officiating. https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2019/10/28/game-umpire-controversy-raises-question-should-mlb-use-an-electronic-system-make-calls/?wpisrc=nl_most&wpmm=1

Contrary to a recent series of articles here, maybe the Twins shouldn't become the new Astros, at least not like this: https://www.si.com/mlb/2019/10/22/houston-astros-roberto-osuna-suspension Those still looking for a World Series rooting interest may have found one!

This has been rehashed time and time again so I won't get into the Twins failures against the Yankees. Instead, this is about the Yankees failures against everybody else. Since their dynasty officially ended in the 2001 World Series, NY has been a pretty crappy postseason team (when not facing the Twins). WC ALDS ALCS WS Total Series 2002 1-3 1-3 0-1 2003 3-1 4-3 2-4 9-8 2-1 2004 3-1…

Link: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/10/22/sports/baseball/baseball-popularity-world-series.html

Alright, this is just for fun, but I think this could be a fun conversation... The Twins drafted OF George Springer in the 48th round of the 2008 draft out of high school in Connecticut. Having a scholarship to U Conn, he obviously did not sign. He went on to be a first-round pick of the Astros... and he's been an All Star and World Series MVP. On Tuesday night, he became to first player in MLB history to hit a homer in 5 straight World Series games. Anyway, what is the Twins would have signed Springer in 2008? How might that have played out? The Twins had taken outfielders Aaron Hicks and Ben Revere in the first rounds of the 2007 and 2008 draft, and they had taken…

I purloined this from WAPO. A modern version of an old classic. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/10/01/casey-bat-poem-baseball-modern-era/?wpisrc=nl_ideas&wpmm=1

Nicholas Castellanos had 88 Xbh last season with the Tigers and Cubs. He only had a 2.7 WAR. Apparently his defense weighed down this total. What is he going to get in FA? You guys seen him play with the lowly Tigers. Looks like he can't steal bases. There are so many OFers out there would he be worth tying up your OF for years?

Here we are, finally, the Eve of Opening Day! It's exciting, but we do need a place in our forums to make our predictions... and then look back at them later in the season. These are MLB predictions... we'll do a Twins prediction thread soon. AL Central - Cleveland AL East - Boston AL West - Houston Wild Cards - Yankees, Twins NL Central - St. Louis NL East - Philadelphia NL West - LA Dodgers Wild Cards - Washington Atlanta AL Champ: Astros NL Champ: Phillies World Series Champ: Astros AL MVP - Mookie Betts AL Cy Young - Trevor Bauer AL Rookie of the Year - Vlad Guerrero Jr NL MVP - Bryce Harper NL Cy Young - Aaron Nola NL Rookie of the Year - I was g…

If you have PlayStation Plus you can download MLB The Show 19 for free this month.

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…

Lots of people want to hang Trent Grisham this morning. Look at the video again. https://deadspin.com/trent-grisham-isnt-going-to-forget-this-one-for-a-while-1838695157 Major League Baseball Grounds Crew's are very talented. They leave nice straight lines in the field so you can mark what happens to baseballs. Trent Grisham did nothing wrong on this play. The spin backwards on the hit was very unnatural and more than just a little spin. Use the lines in the field to gauge it. He does what every outfielder is taught. He moves to his left and rounds himself to get in centered and in front of the baseball and in correct position to make a throw. As you can s…

One of the things I always do at the end of the season is to look at the MLB standings as they would have been from 1969-1993 to see if there were any great pennant races we were robbed of (or were provided) due to realignment. How epic would the Dodgers-Astros battle in the old NL West have been this season? It would have been on par with 1993 Braves-Giants. We'd have ended up with Yankees vs Twins and Astros vs Nationals in this year's LCS match-ups. For those of you wondering, the Twins would have been division winners of the AL West in 2006 (vs Yankees), 2010 (vs TB), this year (vs Yankees), and 2004 would have required a one game play-in game with a possible Jo…

With the division race heating up and the Indians being a common topic of conversation around here it seemed like it might be useful to have a thread to discuss their games, injuries, roster moves etc. Especially on nights like tonight when they are playing and we aren't and we don't have a game thread. For example, the Mets currently lead 2-0 and Syndergaard has a perfect game going. Would be quite the sweep.

Reports this morning are indicating that the Atlanta Braves and Ronald Acuna have agreed to an 8 year deal guaranteeing him $100 million. There are also two options that could bring the deal to 10 years, $124 million. Most seem to think that this is just too low for Acuna and bad for him to sign it. However, it's also OK to say that he's taking $100 million (lifetime security) over an injury or a decline or anything else that could happen. What do you think?

Made his Cubs debut yesterday and got the save. Throwing 97 MPH. We didn't need him. https://blogs.fangraphs.com/craig-kimbrel-shakes-off-the-rust/

I really don't want to get this thread going in the way the Vasquez thread went, but German was put on admistrative leave for domestic violence allegations. This is obviously terrible news if true, but the ramifications are massive. Currently, the Yankees are the 2nd seed in the playoffs to the Astros. A playoff series with the Yankees is very possible. German was their 2nd best starter this year. This obviously doesn't mean as much as the potential crimes done. I seriously think the MLB needs to take these allegations very seriously. There have been enough misfires in the past. It is just sad to see two young stars of the games to have potentially (for Vasquez, confirm…

Lock him up and throw away the key.

So, Cory Provus tweeted out a link to Sweeny Murti's podcast (30 with Murti)... It was an interview with Timothy Busfield who, along with a billion TV shows and movies (like thirtysomething, Trapper John MD, The West Wing, Revenge of the Nerds) was in Field of Dreams and Little Big League. Anyway, the podcast is really interesting and talks a lot about baseball including memories from making Field of Dreams and making Little Big League. He talked about having a locker between Puckett and maybe Winfield and Hrbek helped him at 1B, and hitting against Randy Johnson. If you're into baseball talk and podcasts, I really think you'll enjoy this... https://wfan.radio.com/…

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.

This should be a giant red flag that something isn't right with the baseballs.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/do-we-even-need-minor-league-baseball/ Fascinating read by Travis Sawchik. Once again, the Astros are ahead of everyone else on development and training.

File under the what have you done for me lately. Red Sox fired GM David Dombrowski (or relieved of duties, if you prefer that description). Very surprising outcome, usually after east titles and a world series, you get a little more rope than that. Must have been some tension here.

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/astros-minor-leaguer-loses-home-run-thanks-embarrassing-baserunning-blunder-013014259.html Not Twins prospect so feel free to move to General Baseball if it's more applicable there.

Davis was having a fantastic season for the Twins before being traded for Dyson. I wanted to take a look to see how his numbers looked for the Giants and was blown away. I wouldn't be surprised to see him up with the Giants soon. There's also a ton of buzz being generated about him by national some national outlets, funny to see what blowing up at AAA for a more major market does . Jaylin Davis's numbers in 18 games for the Giants at AAA: .403/.494/.940 (that's slugging % not OPS!)/1.434 OPS 18 runs - 6 2Bs - 10 HRs - 23 RBIs He's now got 57 runs - 17 2Bs - 1 3B - 25 HRs - 65 RBIs with a .353/.433/,788/1.211 slash line in 59 AAA games. That's a per 16…

... for 1 Billion Dollars... Bought the team for $96 million about 20-25 years ago...

No words ... My condolences to this young man. https://www.milb.com/milb/news/wife-child-of-tampa-bay-rays-prospect-blake-bivens-reportedly-slain/c-310350932

https://www.cleveland.com/tribe/2019/08/cleveland-indians-corey-kluber-could-be-shutdown-for-two-weeks.html In his rehab start on Sunday, Corey Kluber went just one inning and was removed with an abdominal injury. In the inning he pitched, he never topped 90 mph.