Other Baseball

For those who have followed Twins Daily for some time might know that I like to dig into the hows and whys of the game in addition to the data side. Not having the opportunity to write full breakdowns here as often anymore, I wanted to create this thread to use as a place to post items discussing the game -- swings, approaches, game theories, data utilization, front office trends, etc -- things that do not necessarily involve the Twins specifically but might influence how you might view the game overall. I hope to post something to the thread on a regular basis. In the comment sections I have seen plenty of great insight and questions regarding the game so I hope we ca…

I was previously against it Followed by Apathetic toward it I'm now officially in the Automate it camp. The technology is there... Let it happen. There is no reason to miss balls and strikes in 2018. =

Barry Larkin, former MVP, has been calling for removing the Kenesaw Mountain Landis name from MVP awards. Personally, until I read the article about this, I did not know the name was on there, actually larger than the person who won the award. For those who do not know, Landis was first commissioner of baseball, and a well known racist that helped keep baseball white. It was not until after his death that baseball was integrated. Yes, he is historical in baseball, for both good, cleaning up the gambling that was going on, and bad the segregation of it. However, his name does not need to be on, and especially larger than the person who won the award, trophy. It is…

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2019/11/white-sox-sign-yasmani-grandal.html

Ken Rosenthal ‏@Ken_Rosenthal 6m Sources: #RedSox designating Pierzynski for assignment. Makes the Suzuki signing look better & better. But I'm still an A.J. fan .... sometimes you just have to know when you're done.

1. The adjective "electric" as applied to pitcher's stuff. Hack announcers have now claimed so many pitchers to have "electric" stuff that bullpens need to be grounded and catchers mitts need to be UL tested. 2. Feigning indifference in dugouts after noteworthy hits. It was cute and funny the first time. Not so much the 600th time. Ditto the obligatory towel of shaving cream in the face during post-game interviews. 3. Managers and coaches still wearing uniforms. Most of them just pull smocks on over their uniforms anyway to cover up their beer guts. Gardy and Scioscia should have been allowed to wear bowling shirts if they wanted. Teams would then also have more pr…

KC sent Moustakas to AAA. After his 2010 minor league season - where as a 21 year old he crushed AA/AAA to a line of .322/.369/.630 despite being at least 3 years younger than the league avg - he was ranked the #9 prospect in baseball. He didn't even seem to have too much issues with plate discipline in the minors. And even as a MLer, his k/bb ratios haven't been horrible. But he has been horrible in the bigs.

I have loyally followed the Twins since the late eighties. My father would tell stories of Harmon Killebrew while I watched Ron Coomer lead my version of the Twins with 16 home runs at a time when league leaders were hitting mid-60's. I anxiously awaited a true power hitter and in walked David Ortiz. I could see him hitting 40+ home runs. He was in a Twins uniform. I had a favorite player. ..and Terry Ryan gave him up so I could instead watch Matthew Lecroy hit 60 bombs. Except over the course of 8 seasons. I was sickened at that decision though it seemed everyone else was just fine with it until David Ortiz proved to be the guy I was convinced he was. Years pass.…

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2014/11/mets-sign-michael-cuddyer.html Rumor is it's 2/22. And they give Colorado the 15th pick in next years draft.

Jeter made it sound very likely that Stanton will be gone, saying that the Marlins are about to make some very unpopular decisions. They've had seven straight losing seasons. I'm guessing he ends up a Yankee, and that NY gives up anything they have to to end up with a lineup anchored by Sanchez/Judge/Stanton. What are your thoughts? Does he get moved? Where does he go?

great thread!

Thought this article was interesting. His ideas include mandating relief pitchers face at least three batters, centering the pitching rubber, best team chooses their playoff opponent, among others.

The Athletic is reporting MLB gave their first proposal to the MLBPA on team spending rules. Dropping luxury tax threshold to $180M and implementing a $100M payroll floor. Obviously very early on and nothing at all is even close to set, but if this is the starting point, and something being discussed, I have hope that this new CBA will address some real competitive balance issues in the league.

No World Baseball Classic thread yet? Come on, guys.

Does MLB and its TV affiliates (mostly Fox Sports channels) realize how idiotic they are being by not being available to be watched on major providers? YouTube TV just cancelled FSN on their platform, Dish Network has not had that channel for nearly a year now, and many other services do not play the baseball games on the platform anymore. I personally don’t do it, but it’s pretty easy to find these games online illegally. Shouldn’t MLB want people to be able to watch the games? MLB also blacks out games for people within a specific area around a team under their own subscription, meaning Iowa and Las Vegas can’t watch several teams, and all of Canada can’t watch the Blue…

SI linked to this story earlier today. Is Chief Wahoo Finally on the Way Out? | Chris Creamer's SportsLogos.Net News and Blog : New Logos and New Uniforms news, photos, and rumours Posnanski also had a small column out about how offensive Chief Wahoo was but I don't have that link.

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

Well, I was feeling bad about hijacking Van's "Who Will Win the World Series" poll/thread. So, here we go. I've seen three of the four games so far, and I am reminded that good baseball teams are fun to watch. Golldangit. Stupid Boston, Toronto, Cleveland, Dallas, Washington, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, and to a lesser extent Baltimore and New York! Why do they have all the luck? I am almost certainly not authorized to post Game Threads without a thumbs-up from the Mod Squad, but I'm feeling saucy today. Here are some cities to think about: 1. Boston When I think of Boston, I think of one of my very favorite all-time television shows: Cheers. I love Ch…

http://espn.go.com/chicago/mlb/story/_/id/12587428/kris-bryant-javier-baez-addison-russell-sent-minors-chicago-cubs Cubs sent the #2 prospect in baseball to AAA. (They also sent Baez and Russell down as well). Bryant was considered by most to be good enough to start now (and the Cubs traded away their third baseman this offseason) but if they keep him in the minors for 10 days they get another year of control. So, they did that. His agent, Scott Boras, has said the Cubs lack integrity and owe it to the fans to let him start the year on the ML roster.

Aroldis Chapman to the Cubs for SS Gleybar Torres. Your thoughts?

Chicago is in Cleveland for Game 1 of the World Series. Feel free to discuss throughout the game. Lineups: CUBS: Dexter Fowler CF Kris Bryant 3B Anthony Rizzo 1B Ben Zobrist LF Kyle Schwarber DH Javier Baez 2B Chris Coghlan RF Addison Russell SS David Ross C Jon Lester P Jason Heyward, who signed a 10-year, $184 million deal with the Cubs last offseason, is again out of the lineup, benched for Chris Coghlan. Of course, the Schwarber decision is very interesting. After being hurt in the 2nd game of the season, he had surgery, rehabbed, and was activated last week. He played a game or two in the AFL, and now is batting 5th in the World Series. CLEVELAND: Raja…

In an effort to consolidate talk on consummated trade talks - here is a mega thread for it. First two deals that went down today: Pirates add Ramirez Kazmir to the Astros

Who's going to win it all?

Would be ready for 2022 MLB season and cost $23 a month. https://www.startribune.com/would-you-pay-23-a-month-for-access-to-just-bally-sports-north/600067173/ https://nypost.com/2021/06/10/sinclair-raising-250m-for-new-sports-streaming-service-sources/

Someone please tell me they just watched him homer and then get ejected. that was classic.

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2019/02/phillies-reportedly-agree-to-sign-bryce-harper.html Apparently for $330 million for 13 years. Unsure on all the details such as opt outs.

According to Jon Heyman (via mlbtraderumors--link below), Appel is leaning against signing with the Pirates, because he wants more than the 3.84m bonus the Pirates can give, and not surrender a first round pick. I'm not sure I understand this move; isn't next year's different class, at least at this point, considered a stronger one than this year's? Therefore wouldn't Appel project to fall right aroudn this spot again, or does he think he'll be able to improve his stock that much in one year? Furthermore, doesn't the fact that he exhausts his eligibility at Stanford next year reduce his bargaining power? Basically, it seems like Appel, thanks to Scott Boras, is walking aw…

I know they have not finalized any deal yet. The question I would answered is how many years must a player sign a contract for? If it would go worst team (Houston) a pitcher like Tanaka if forced to sign with the winning bid what would stop the player from saying "fine I will be an Astro but I will only sign a 1yr deal and become a free agent. Then the player could go to NY or LA where they want to be and get a huge deal. They should also make it if let's say Houston posted $20M and won the rights to sign Tanaka they should have to surrender their 1st round pick in the up coming draft. So every team would move up 1 slot in the draft.

The New York Times has just reported that the pristine, clean, and uber successful St. Louis Cardinals organization is being investigated for hacking into the Houston Astros internal networks to get an advantage. "The attack represents the first known case of corporate espionage in which a professional sports team has hacked the network of another team." Read the article here. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/17/sports/baseball/st-louis-cardinals-hack-astros-fbi.html?emc=edit_na_20150616&nlid=70197486&_r=0

There are so many great stadiums across baseball so I was wondering what is your favorite stadium that you have visited besides Target Field? The Twins tend to get some good support on some of their road trips and I am sure a few fans have been to some nicer stadiums than I have visited. I'm interested to hear where people have been and what they liked about the experience.