Other Baseball

Gearing up for the Minnesota Twins Opening Day, I had an empty afternoon and popped on notorious ballhawk Zack Hample’s new film. Zack Hample vs. the World may lead you to believe it’s about the story of a ballhawk, but I left it thinking anything but. If you aren’t familiar with Hample, the gist is that he attends baseball games with the sole intention of catching, collecting, and retrieving baseballs. Whether it’s game home runs, foul balls, milestones, or simple toss-ups, he’s the best when it comes to acquiring the baseball. Despite having nabbed over 11,000 baseballs during Major League games in his lifetime, or that he has nearly 600,000 followers on YouT…

I lecture on many historic topics in my job with American Cruise Lines, so I am constantly perusing different historic documents. In the past I have told you how both Wild Bill Hickok and Tom Custer played baseball. This note is from Thoreau's journal - he did not play, but he observed this game that was in Sleepy Hollow where Washington Irving based his stories of Rip Van Winkle and the Headless Horseman. "Fast-Day.—Some fields are dried sufficiently for the games of ball with which this season is commonly ushered in. I associate this day, when I can remember it, with games of baseball played over behind the hills of Sleepy Hollow, where the snow was jus…

We have a thread every year to post news and tidbits about happenings and signings around the game. If the news is 'big', feel free to start a separate thread. Not everything needs to go here, but, consider this thread a collective. I'll start with this news bit:

The Mets will regret their $130 million investment.

According to MLBtraderumors the Guardians have agreed to extend Jose Rameriz, 5 years $124 million, full no trade clause. Maybe a new leaf in Cleveland

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2022/04/white-sox-sign-johnny-cueto-to-minor-league-deal.html $4.2M was the price tag. Has a May 15 opt-out, which is interesting. Didn't see that coming, but with Lynn on the shelf the Sox went out there and grabbed him.

Well that sucks....

Today (Thursday March 31, until 8 AM CDT Friday April 1) is a free preview day for Stathead, the advanced search tool for Baseball Reference (and Pro Football Reference, and Basketball Reference, etc.). Normally access to this tool is $8 per month. So if you have any burning questions about streaks or events throughout baseball or sports history, now would be a good time to try to get some answers! https://stathead.com/baseball/

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2022/03/reds-top-prospect-hunter-greene-opening-day-rotation.html Good for him. Twins need pitching. Lewis and Enlow still a ways out.

Hello all, Been a long time since I’ve made a thread on this site. Any of my old friends still here? Anyways, looking for some advice on fantasy baseball. I’ve been roped into a league by a friend of mine with a pricey buy in, so I’d like to do well. I’ve been reading up on the subject, and listening to podcasts. But I’m curious if any of my fellow twins fans have any good tips for someone who’s played 1 year of fantasy baseball where I stopped paying attention after a month. Go Twins!

This has been shared in the past, but it seems like the time is right to dust it off again. Arizona Phil of The Cub Reporter does a great job of documenting the MLB roster rules and recently updated with the new CBA. https://www.thecubreporter.com/mlb-roster-rules-presented-arizona-phil below is the table of contents, the Lewis Thorpe discussions lately have relied on DFA and Waiver concepts that the sections below do a great job of laying out the process and what a waiver means and the transactions that go with. MLB Reserve List (40-Man Roster) MLB Service Time MLB Contracts Article XX-B MLB Free-Agency MLB Rule 5 Draft …

We all know the CBA really comes down to money, but part of it will be rule changes. We already know about the DH change. The most recent player proposal makes it clear a few other changes will happen. The size of bases, pitch clock, and anti-shifting. Base sizes is expected to lead to more steal attempts, so more action. All for that. Pitch clock is expected to lead to less waiting around and think it includes less throw overs, which will lead to more base stealing as well, maybe more pitch outs. That part of game will be interesting to see how it develops. What I wanted to write on is where I think most people will be split, the anti-shift rules. First, I a…

i am curious whether or not sabermetrics is taking some of the fun out of baseball. actually, i'm pretty sure it is. i love baseball and have for as long as i can remember. i love going to the park, seeing games - have seen every team play at home, been to world series games, spring training - and think i know a fair bit about the game. in the past few years i have taken to trying to learn more about sabermetrics and how it affects the game. what to watch for, how to evaluate players beyond averages, etc. but i wonder if i am taking some of the fun away. are people that read, for instance, baseball prospectus or fangrapghs like a bible taking it too seriously? l…

What are your thoughts on the Ohtani rule (pitcher can stay in as dh) and the ghost runner? Not sure I like the first one. It only applies to one guy. I'm ok with the ghost runner to keep games from going into 15-18 innings, but maybe they should not start it until after one inning, or maybe the 12...

Anybody interested in getting a league together? Was thinking something like $50-$100 buy-in. Reply if your might want to play.

Thought a single thread to document signings around the league in this crazy resumption of an offseason would be a good idea.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/33518462/atlanta-braves-re-sign-nlcs-mvp-eddie-rosario-2-year-18-million-deal Seems fair to me.....

In essence ... minor leaguers need to be paid for Spring Training ... https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/mlb-found-to-owe-minor-league-players-damages-for-unpaid-wages/

Bad news for traditionalists: the extra-innings runner on second (aka "ghost runner") may return for 2022 after all. Apparently the players "heavily support" it. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2022/03/mlb-mlbpa-discussing-reinstating-extra-innings-ghost-runner-rule.html

In advance of possible 2023 implementation in MLB, the Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) system will be used in more minor leagues in 2022 -- details below. Full list of 2022 minor league experiments here: https://www.mlb.com/amp/news/mlb-to-test-rules-in-2022-minor-league-season.html

Apparently there's talk about holding a home run derby in lieu of extra innings to decide the ASG. Personally, I wish they'd just leave the game alone. Let it be the exhibition game it's intended to be. It's the most "real" all star game in the major sports. Quit messing with it. Nobody cares how it ends. It should just be a showcase for the stars of the game. That said, what are your thoughts?

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...

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/03/friday-night-baseball-on-deck-for-apple-tv-subscribers/ The Friday night baseball is kinda meh whatever but I’m more interested in the 24/7 highlights and commentary.

It’s a ‘thought piece’ but I thought it was a good read. https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/03/04/baseball-lockout-1994-strike/ “The erosion of baseball’s audience and its diminished status as the former national pastime don’t make it near extinction. Such a breathless assertion is preposterous because there’s still a robust fan base. But the question that makes the situation seem dire is about cultivation. How does baseball — which currently has some of the most impressive young talent in its history — nurture loyalists into the future?” If you were in charge of PR-Marketing of baseball, post-lockout, what are the things you would do or suggest own…

I grew up in an era where baseball was the National Sport. The NFL started to make their move through the 1950s and blossomed with the trend setting AFL pushing the 3 yards and a cloud of dust out of the way with Bambi - Lance Alworth - and a wide open game. Baseball never had competing leagues that made it and helped change the culture. Instead they expanded and spread out across the country. As the number of teams grew - to 30 teams - image 30 teams times 162 games - 4860 box scores. In the 1950s we would poor over the box scores - but there were 8 teams in each league. Now the box scores have so much less meaning - too many and all the sabermetrics have pushed t…

It's a really unexpected thing to see and bares questions about the Marlins or potentially the negotiations? "We had a vision five years ago to turn the Marlins franchise around," Jeter said in a statement, "and as CEO, I have been proud to put my name and reputation on the line to make our plan a reality. "That said, the vision for the future of our franchise is different than the one I signed up to lead. Now is the right time for me to step aside as a new season begins." https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2022/02/28/derek-jeter-steps-down-miami-marlins-ceo/6973992001/

With the last developments and the start of Spring Training officially being delayed, when do you think the lockout will end and the season begin?

great thread!

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2022/02/eric-kay-convicted-of-drug-distribution-resulting-in-death-of-tyler-skaggs.html The communications director who gave Skaggs the drugs he OD'd on was convicted. Good news there. Less thrilled to see that of the five players who testified about getting opioids from this guy, three were former Twins. And for some reason, all three were Twins in the 2019 season.