2017 Major League Baseball Thread

[hungry101]

Although Altuve and Correa are great players, that is not what happened on this play. Had Didi Gregorious not been obstructed and gotten off his usual rifled relay throw, Altuve is out at the plate. Didi usually does a great job with relay throws when he is not obstructed.

You are not implying that Didi was illegally obstructed are you? He may have been obstructed but I don't see how this was illegal. Mind you, I am not sure what the rule is. I just don't see how a guy making a pop-up slide into second could be doing anything illegal. Girardi argued for obstruction which I do not blame him for but looking at the replay, I do not see anything illegal. At any rate, had Sanchez caught the throw on one hop which he should have of Altuve is out by 2 or 3 steps.

In my balloting I gave Judge the MVP by a nose over Altuve, this because Judge defeated Altuve in the all important OBP stat, not to mention smothering him in all power stats.

I see they have identical WAR (8.3 for Altuve and 8.1 Aaron Judge). Since WAR is + or - 1.0 those numbers are a toss up. This is going to be a tough one for MVP. I honestly would go for Altuve because of his defense and speed on the base paths and because Judge's penchant for striking out but this is like saying what is the better ice cream: Blue Moon or Superman?

I am more upset at the other play at the plate that happened in the Cubs vs Dodgers game. I rally have a problem with the newer rule of the catcher not being able to block the plate. I do not believe that MLB had the concussion problem like the NFL has. That rule change was insane and the chickens have come home to roost.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/contro...g-rule-comes-into-play-in-the-nlcs-1508045231

 

[EagerBeaver]

I did not say it was illegal obstruction. It was obstruction, in other words, Didi was blocked from making his usual relay throw that would have nailed Altuve at the plate. It doesn't have to be illegal, sometimes a team gets lucky having a baserunner in the right place at the right time.

 

[hungry101]

Why did Manning pull Duensing for Lackey?

 

[bushleague]

That Astros team is pretty good and watching Altuve and then Springer in center field is a lot of fun.

 

[EagerBeaver]

Aaron Judge spotted with hottie at Nobu:

https://www.google.com/amp/amp.tmz.com/2017/10/31/aaron-judge-girlfriend-jen-flaum-new-york

Pic from her instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/p/Ba7XitOlb9c/?hl=en&taken-by=jflaumy

This just proves what I was telling Rumps for years- chicks dig the long ball!!!!!!

 

[EagerBeaver]

George Springer

Congratulations to Connecticut native George Springer of the Houston Astros, a first team All American in college at the University of Connecticut, and perhaps the finest baseball player UConn has ever sent to the major leagues, on his incredible World Series which has so far seen him hit 5 home runs. Springer could be bringing back a World Series MVP to Connecticut.

 

[rumpleforeskiin]

Charlie Morton is from Redding, CT, between Danbury and Bridgeport

 

[EagerBeaver]

Charlie Morton is from Redding, CT, between Danbury and Bridgeport

I am quite familiar with the area since I grew up in Fairfield County and spent most of my younger adult life there, but strangely, I was never aware that Morton was a Connecticut kid let alone from my part of the State.

Here is a short list of some of the great players from Connecticut who played Major League Baseball:

Walt Dropo- 2 sport star for UConn (basketball and baseball), 1951 AL Rookie of the Year for the Boston Red Sox. Wrist injury derailed his MLB career
Bobby Valentine- 3 sport star at Rippowam in Stamford and 1st team All State in Baseball, Basketball and Football. High MLB draft pick but career derailed by injury after he crashed into a wall
Jeff Bagwell - grew up in Killingworth, CT and played at U of Hartford
Mo Vaughn - played with Red Sox, .293 career BA, 328 HRs
Steve Blass - 1971 World Series co-MVP for Pirates (Clemente won it, Blass voted #2)
Jimmy Piersall - played for Red Sox 1960s and 1970s
Rob Dibble - one of the famed "Nasty Boys' bullpen for 1990 Cincinnati Red which arguably revolutionized bullpen usage into the modern era; part of the historical turning point in bullpens as a weapon
Charles Nagy - 1990s pitcher for Cleveland Indians, from Fairfield, best pitcher in UConn history
Matt Harvey - injury plagued Mets pitcher
George Springer - all time HR leader at UConn, 2017 World Series MVP, I give him the nod over Nagy and Dropo as best baseball player in UConn history but Dropo actually had a more impressive basketball career than baseball career at UConn, so I give Dropo the best UConn athlete of all time and Nagy best UConn pitcher of all time with no apologies to Matt Barnes.

When I saw Springer at UConn 2009-2011, I thought he had a chance to play in MLB, but did not think he would be this good. I can't forget the catch he made against South Carolina and Jackie Bradley Jr. in a game that was billed as the "Battle of the Star Centerfielders" (Springer played CF at UConn). Here is the catch Springer made in that game that was perhaps the all time UConn baseball highlight:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjT7juTf2Fk

Unfortunately JBJ and SC won the game 3-2, advanced to the CWS and won it that year.

 

[EagerBeaver]

Cashman Gives His Reason For Firing Girardi

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/...new-york-yankees-clubhouse-joe-girardi-firing

In essence, Joe Girardi was a little too old school for Yankees front office management, both in his handling of the clubhouse and in his theories of baseball on the field. Girardi's frequent use of predetermined innings for bullpen pitcher usage, rather than implementing "high leverage" theory of bringing the best bullpen pitcher for the job into a difficult high leverage situation when the game is on the line, regardless of the inning, was the subject of withering criticism by David Cone on YES telecasts this year. Cashman heard that. The communication issues with Greg Bird on his injury, which ultimately resulted in surgery after repeated and perhaps unnecessary DL stints, may also have been blamed on Girardi, if in fact Bird told his doctors things Girardi did not know and report to Cashman. One can only speculate on why it took over 3 months to do the necessary diagnostic testing that determined Bird had suffered an injury correctable with ankle surgery. It is these kinds of issues that will sour a MLB team on a manager, even if he does a mostly pretty good job.

The old school methodologies which were in vogue at one time in the 1970s and 1980s with demanding taskmaster managers like Dallas Green are no longer in vogue. The days of the combative manager who would fight players in the clubhouse, like Billy Martin with Reggie Jackson after Martin benched Jackson in mid inning on national TV against the Red Sox, are long gone, now only remembered by me, Rumples and a few other people closer to kicking the bucket. Tito Francona is probably the prototype of the new age manager who is perceived as a master communicator in the clubhouse, although as we saw the total Laissez Faire philosophy that descended the Red Sox clubhouse into a fried chicken and beer circus in 2011 is the sometimes downside with such new age managers.

So who will the next Yankees manager be? And how good will he be at implementing this new wave thinking on baseball team managerial protocol?

 

[Doc Holliday]

Roy "Doc" Halladay R.I.P.

Roy Halladay, the Toronto Blue Jays icon who won two Cy Young Awards and was an eight-time all-star in a Hall of Fame calibre career, was killed Tuesday when his amphibious light-sport aircraft crashed into the Gulf of Mexico 10 miles from St. Petersburg, Fla., according to Pacso Sheriff Chris Nocco. He was 40.

The specifics of the crash are still under investigation, Nocco told a news conference.

At 1:36 p.m. ET the Pasco Sheriff office tweeted that its water response and marine unit was responding to a report of a downed plane, and later updated that one body had been found and that no survivors had been confirmed.

Roughly two hours later, CBS Tampa 10News WTSP reported that the aircraft, an Icon A5, was registered to Halladay, whose Twitter account contains several photos of himself flying the plane.

“The worst case scenario happened and it breaks our hearts,” Nocco said.

Another former Blue Jays pitcher, Cory Lidle, was killed in an Oct. 11, 2006 plane crash, when the single-engine plane Cirrus SR20 he was piloting crashed into a 50-storey building on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. He was 34.

Halladay took a training course for the A5 in May 2016, tweeting out updates on his progress along the way.

On Oct. 13, he tweeted that he owned his very own A5, and posted several pictures of his trips in it.

Halladay was among the most popular players in Blue Jays history, a 17th-overall pick in 1995 who lost a no-hit bid with two outs in the ninth inning of his second career start in 1998, was sent back to single-A Dunedin in 2001 to completely rebuild himself, and then returned to dominate for a decade.

In 2003, Halladay won a club-record 22 games en route to his first Cy Young Award and was the backbone of the franchise through the first decade of the 2000s as the Blue Jays unsuccessfully tried to catch the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox in the American League East.

His trade to the Philadelphia Phillies in December 2009 was a gutting moment for the organization, with fans largely siding with Halladay for demanding a trade away from a team on the verge of a rebuild.

With the Phillies his brilliance continued, winning 21 games en route to his second Cy Young Award, a season that included the 20th perfect game in big-league history, on May 29, 2010. For good measure, he added a post-season no-hitter against the Cincinnati Reds in the NLDS that year.

After shoulder and back troubles marred his 2013 season, he signed with the Blue Jays in December so he could retire with the team he began his career with.

“Speaking with doctors, they feel like at this point, if I can step away and take some of that high‑level pressure off of it, it will hopefully allow me to do some regular things and help out with the kids’ [baseball] teams,” he said that day. “I want to be active. I want to continue to do things I enjoy doing, spend time with my family.”

Roy Halladay dies in plane crash

 

[EagerBeaver]

A lot of you probably know by now that Aaron Judge this past week won American League Rookie of the Year award unanimously with one of the best rookie seasons in MLB history. What you may not fully grasp is the likely historical impact Judge had on exit velocity and related statistical analyses:

https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/lets-make-one-thing-absolutely-clear-about-aaron-judge/

It’s not an exaggeration to say that Judge has done for exit velocity and related statistical analyses what Elvis Presley did for the early rock and roll that was pioneered by Chuck Berry and other black artists. Judge has brought it into the mainstream with his own signature artistry, his tape measure high velocity home runs much like Elvis’s performances characterized by violent hip swivels and versatile cadences of his voice. They brought two different things into the mainstream in their own unique ways.

 

[EagerBeaver]

MLB Bans Former Braves GM, Strips Braves of 13 international free agents signed

Pretty clear message that cheating on international free agents will not be tolerated:

http://www.latimes.com/sports/mlb/la-sp-braves-scandal-20171121-story.html

 

[EagerBeaver]

Let the Ohtani Sweepstakes Begin!!!!!!!!

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/...iation-agree-new-posting-system-shohei-ohtani

 

[EagerBeaver]

Congratulations to Aaron Boone, New Yankees Manager

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/21634728/aaron-boone-become-next-manager-new-york-yankees

 

[steve miwa]

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/...iation-agree-new-posting-system-shohei-ohtani

Othani may join either West Coast team, Mariners or Padres

https://sportiva.shueisha.co.jp/clm/baseball/mlb/2017/12/05/___split_23/index_4.php

 

[steve miwa]

EagerBeaver,

Othani met SanFrancisco Giant for negotiation yesterday, I anticipate failure due to the FAKE statue.


cheers,

 

[steve miwa]

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/...iation-agree-new-posting-system-shohei-ohtani

After all, Othani avoided the team in San Francisco due to the FAKE statu

 

[EagerBeaver]

Fascinating (and quite heated) interview of MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred by Dan Le Betard, about the recent Marlins fire sale trades of Dee Gordon, Giancarlo Stanton and Marcell Ozuna:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDT-a7fh5fc#action=share

Manfred appears to legitimize tanking as a valid strategy for small market baseball teams, noting that the top 5 drafting teams in 2013 all made the playoffs in 2017.

 

[hungry101]

Speaking of fire sales, the Tiger's latest move was nothing but a salary dump. Ian Kinsler was traded to the Angels for their 20th and 24th best prospects. The Angels picked up Kinsler's $11MM Salary and we got two more scrubs from the worst farm system in baseball. The best thing Al Avila can say about the Angels 20th ranked non-prospect, Montgomery, is that "He is high energy, toolsy and not too old." Detroit is safely under the cap and gave up a 3.8 WAR/year guy for two bums that have a snowballs chance in hell of making the big leagues.

This was as disappointing as the JD Martinez and Justin Upton trades. The Verlander trade was a little btter and the Avila + J Wilson trade to the Cubs was pretty good but the goal is clearly to dump salary and rebuild is somewhere down the lust of priorities. After all those trades we got mostly low and mid level prospects in return. We miss you Mike Ilitch.

But I wonder if there is a bubble that is about to burst on free agents? Look at Miguel Cabrara's beefy contract that lasts till 2024. I think that teams are going to be a little leery and a little more careful prior to spending all that money for all those years. Meanwhile, the Tigers have three bad contracts that are killing them and they are still paying JV, and Fielder and probably a few others. Miggy's contract is so huge he cannot be moved. I doubt V-Mart will last the season. Zimmerman has a huge contract and he cannot be moved. It was a good 12 year run but it is over for the Detroit Tigers for a good 5-10 years.

 

[EagerBeaver]

The Tigers could probably move Cabrera if they took on another bad contract in the trade, for example Cabrera for Jeff Samardzjia of the SF Giants, a guy much like Michael Pineda who has great stuff but erratic, average results. The Yankees, in their ongoing effort to unload Jacoby Ellsbury's terrible contract, had discussions with the Giants about Samardjgia, but the Giants wanted the Yankees to eat too much of Ellsbury's contract while taking on all of Samardzjia's, which is kind of like offering to split the last piece of Christmas apple pie with your little brother and he cuts himself about 80% of that slice. It's like WTF, why did I even offer to do that, which is what Cashman thought after calling SF.

What teams are really nervous about is the length of some of these contracts. Most baseball players are on the down side of their careers after they get to be about 33 years old, yet many team have guys signed well into their late 30s or early 40s. The Yankees took on the last 10 years of Giancarlo Stanton's contract and I figure it will start to look bad in the last 5 years. The Angels contract with Albert Pujols, which is among the top 3 worst contracts in baseball, has been bad for years now and was downright awful last year as Pujols' statistical slide continues. You can hope guys stay healthy and continue to perform at a high level, but most guys start to break down after age 33 and once a guy gets to 35 it becomes harder to remain a major league regular everyday player. The 162 game schedule is what makes baseball different- the older guys simply do not have the time to let their bodies recover. This is why guys like Brett Gardner and Justin Verlander, who are both 33-34 years old, may have had their best years of their careers last year, or at least their last highly effective season as a starter. Gardner was overplayed a bit last year relative to his performance, but I think he will be okay as a 4th outfielder who is given a few days rest every week. I don't think Verlander will ever pitch as well again as he did second half of last year. He was awesome in the playoffs and he is a guy who seems well conditioned for his age, but historically guys his age begin the slow downward slide into mediocrity from whence there is no return. CC Sabathia, at age 37 last year, was able to recapture a bit of glory because he learned how to pitch and change speeds and a new pitch from Andy Pettite (a premiere crafty lefthander who pitched effectively until age 40), but the truth is that CC is not the durable horse he once was and he is usually only good for 5-6 innings. What makes him valuable is that he is really tough on and can neutralize lineups laden with lefthanded bats.