Talkin' Hardball

[Guard Dog]

As of today all players who have contracts are in camp. And some who should have are not (more on that in a bit). The first Grapefruit & Cactus League games are Friday. I don't know about you guys but I'm ready. 

 

There is a lot going on this year. New rule changes are coming. Some good, some... not. Designated hitter in the NL will likely be a thing in 2021. I have a pretty ingrained dislike of the DH but screw it, everyone but the NL uses it so past time they got with the program. Pitch clocks, arbitration changes, extra innings rule changes and just some of what might be coming. What do you guys think?

 

The free agent market has been slow and the players are concerned. Don't look at Harper and Machado. They are both holding multiple contract offers for $275M+ they could sign anytime they want. But teams don't want to do 10 year deals anymore. Who can blame them? Oh hey Albert Pujols... when did you get here? But Dallas Keuchel, Marwin Gonzalez, and Craig Kimbrel are all still unsigned. Kimbrel wants a long term deal but the truth is teams don't want to give over 30 players long term deals. They break down before they reach the end pf them. It's just bad business and the players haven't figured that out yet.

 

The Rays did not get to build their new stadium and the A's are looking like they will get to. If not Portland and Montreal are both ready to pounce. 

 

So any predictions for this season? Got any WS picks? 

 

AL East: Yankees? Red Sox? Hard to say. But the winner will likely need to win 105+ games to do it

AL Central: Indians are better than the Twins but they won't run away with it. 

AL West: Oakland will make noise I think but the Astros can't be caught.

 

NL East: Anybody except the Marlins. This is the best division in the MLB top to bottom. It will be a dog fight.

NL Central: Cubs in a tight race over Cardinals and Brewers.

NL West: The Rockies will pace the Dodgers through summer but fade late. Dodgers clinch it in September.

 

WS: Yankees vs Dodgers 

 

 

[Guard Dog]

Exactly 30 days to go until the season begins. We already did a player number count down so how about we do something different? The 30 most memorable MLB moments (as decided by me).

 

#30 Ichiro guns down Terrance Long from RF

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYAxk01E404

[smjjames]

I'm just gonna root for my home team, the Padres.

[Guard Dog]

The Padres appear to be pursuing Machado aggressively.  If the get him he puts them in the wildcard mix

[Hurlshort]

Giants might be relevant if they get Harper, but I don't see why he would sign with us. We've got a lot of dead weight in contracts right now. We've got one pitcher and a good infield, but the rest is unproven or a mess.

 

I don't like the DH idea or having relievers start the game, but I can't say it will make me lose interest. I just prefer the mold of pitchers that go for complete games and step into the batter's box with confidence. I watched Barry Zito fight through 12 pitches once and it was the most fun ever.

 

I think the Dodgers will self destruct. 

[Hurlshort]

Agh, just read Bruce Bochy is retiring after this year. Well, hopefully the team can give him one more good run. Hall of famer in my eyes, for sure.

[Guard Dog]

There have been just 23 Perfect Games in MLB history. But you know what's even rarer? An Unassisted Triple Play. There have been just 17 of those. This was the last one. It's the Phillies vs Mets. bottom of the 9th, runners on 1st & 2nd and the Mets trailing 9-7. The winning run is at the plate and then this happens:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DviV7CYrc-E

 

29 days to go with Eric Brunlett and an unassisted triple play. 

Edited February 19, 2019 by Guard Dog

[Guard Dog]

The Padres got Manny! https://www.mlb.com/news/manny-machado-deal-with-padres/c-304157722

 

Wow... that is a game changer in the NL West. He's worth 10 more wins. He might not put them over the top this year but next year and after watch out!

[Gfted1]

Don Newcombe Dodgers Legend Dead at 92.

[Guard Dog]

#28 The Called Shot

 

In 1932 the Yankees swept the Cubs in the WS. The Cubs were overmatched from the get go despite the fact that the '32 Yankees were a shadow of the dominant teams they fielded just four years earlier. But what made the 1932 series the stuff of legends happened in the 5th inning of Game 3.

 

The Cubs and Yankees had a little bit of a rivalry in those days and were facing each other in the WS for the 2nd time in three years. There was a lot of trash talking or "bench jockeying" as it was called then, between the two teams. Cubs manager Rogers Hornsby knew Ruth well and had a reputation for being an a-----e. He reportedly told the Chicago media before the '29 WS (he was a player on the Cubs then) that Ruth was "old, fat and washed up". Now as the team manager he and the Cubs had been jeering Ruth mercilessly. Probably not a good idea. In the 5th with the Yankees up 4-3 and a runner on first Ruth comes up and gets two quick and reportedly very inside pitches from Cubs pitcher Charlie Root. Both were called strikes. Then this happens:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwIlNSi3x7c

 

The story goes that Ruth was pointing at center field, right where he sent the next pitch, 459' and over the wall. The legend that he "called the shot" grew from the reporting by the New York Daily news, Cubs public address announcer Pat Pieper and the Chicago Tribune Cubs beat reporter. Lou Geherig said he did it. Former Supreme Court justice John Paul Stevens was a young boy in the stands that day and said he did it. The New York Yankees didn't have a radio broadcast team in '32 (they would not have any recorded games before 1947) and CBS did not have the means to record audio for something so long as a sports broadcast in those days so there is no audio recording of the AB. Shirley Povich was covering the game for the Washington Post and she said he was jawing at Root for the inside pitches. Rogers Hornsby says Ruth was pointing at him and saying something. Charlie Root asked Ruth about it after and swore the Babe told him "I know I didn't, but it made a hell of a story, didn't it?"

 

So. Did it happen? I don't know. The video is definitely from Wrigley in 1932. The 2nd tier outfield stands were built just for the 1932 WS. Ruth was definitely pointing at something. Personally I think he was pointing towards left field where the Cubs dugout was. Likely at Hornsby who would have been standing in front of it. He could have been pointing at Root for the two high and tight pitches. But as Yan Martel  put in in The Life of Pi there are two different versions here. In each the Babe points and hits the next pitch over the CF wall. Neither version can be confirmed. So which makes the better story? 

[Guard Dog]

According to Bleacher Report the Giants, White Sox, and Phillies have all offered Harper a higher AAV than Machado just got... but they won't go 10 years. The Nats offered 10 years but a lower AAV. All four clubs would be nuts to try an beat AAV AND years on the Machado deal. Harper is a defensive liability compared to Manny. If I were him I'd take the 1 year $40M the Giants offered and go win a WS and try again next year.

 

But then again pay me $40M for one year's work and no one would ever see me again after that! 

[Gfted1]

I think the White Sox offer was incentive laden. He (Machado) was smart to take the guaranteed money.

[Hurlshort]

It would be interesting if the Giants got him because it might turn the NL West into a 5-team nightmare.

[Guard Dog]

#27 Back to back HR:

 

On September 14 1990 two Seattle Mariner outfielders hit back to back home runs. Ken Griffey Sr. and Ken Griffey Jr. The first and so far only game a father and son homered in the same game, let alone back to back!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCk1UY5Afus

[Guard Dog]

#26 The Catch

 

1954 World Series, Giants vs Indians. The score is tied 2-2 in the top of the 8th at the Polo Grounds in New York. Cleveland has the bases loaded with two outs. Indians catcher Jim Hegan comes up and hits a deep drive to CF:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vrsg_-dV7Q

 

Had just about anyone else been playing center field in New York that hot September day that ball is over their heads. An easy and base clearing triple for Hegan that puts the Indians up 5-2. Instead Willie Mays did what he always did best: be amazing. The Giants won the game in the 10th and went on to sweep the tribe.

 

26 days to go 

[Hurlshort]

The throw on that back foot from deep is the crazy part. 

[Guard Dog]

#25 Inside the Park HR

 

2015 World Series Game 1. Fist pitch, first AB Alceides Escobar hits one inside the park

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Du-Qp6Y3Wjo

[Guard Dog]

The Nats & White Sox are now out on Harper. The Giants won't go 10 years so it's the Phillies of nothing for Harper & Scott Boras now. The escalation of salaries was going to hit a breaking point sooner or later. This may finally be it. One thing for sure, Harper's leverage has disappeared. 

[Guard Dog]

#24 The Hidden Ball Trick

 

Watch Todd Helton fake the throw back to the pitcher:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5wGxsxjmy0

[Guard Dog]

#23 The Walk off

 

The New York Yankees have won 27 championships. They have played in 40. They became the Yankees in 1913 (they were the New York Highlanders and Baltimore Orioles previously) so 38% of all AL pennants since 1913 have been won by the Yankees. But there have been stretches where they were pretty terrible. After being soundly defeated by the Cardinals in the '64 WS the Yankees wandered into the wilderness for twelve years. Half of those they had losing records. But in 1976 after two years of rebuilding and free agency spending under new owner George Steinbrenner the Bronx Bombers were back. Winning the ALCS in walk off fashion:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AS6HGwoRrkY

Edited February 25, 2019 by Guard Dog

[Guard Dog]

#22 The Bird

 

The ultimate wrong place at the wrong time!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PyCpG06138

[Guard Dog]

I really wish we could keep sports and politics separate. Well, we can't with this kind of story popping up as often as the do. Here is the link: https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2821567-bruce-maxwell-just-wants-a-fresh-start?utm_source=cnn.com&utm_campaign=editorial&utm_medium=referral

 

I'll save you some reading. It's about poor Bruce Maxwell the former Oakland A's catcher and MLB player  who joined the whole kneeling thing during the national anthem two seasons ago. Now poor Bruce Maxwell is out of baseball. Blacklisted if you accept the tone of the article although Miller never specifically says he is. The insinuation is plain. Of course more than halfway through the story Miller admits Maxwell's agent says the concern teams have wasn't his social justice protest but his other criminal chargers but more than that is his on field performance.

 

In 2016 he slashed .283/.337/.402  and was above league average in fielding for a WAR of 5. In 2017 he was .237/.329/.333 still not bad but was a little bit of a liability behind the plate below league average in fielding and worst of all was -7 in DRS. All combine to gave him a 0 WAR for 2017. In 2018  he slashed .182/.207/.309 and struggled more on defense for a WAR of -1. Free agents with these numbers don't get contracts. 

 

In sports performance trumps all. Numbers talk, all other BS walks. Michael Vick is the one of the the most despicable human beings to ever play in the NFL. But he had no trouble finding work after three years in UFP. Why? For one he accepted the contract he was offered and except for his rookie year in no season he took snaps did his QBR fall below 69. His second year back it was 100. That is top 5 in the league. That kind of performance makes up for all the protests, criticism, and bad karma from having Dogkiller on your team.  

 

Now take Kaepernick. This last three seasons is QBR was 60, 43, 49. Unless you play for the Jacksonville Jaguars that will not even get you a backup job in the NFL. And he is demanding top pay for a QB. I guarantee you on thing though, knees or no, protests or no, if CK was throwing the ball like Michael Vick did when he came back to the league he'd have a NFL job right now. 

 

Check you politics at the door please. No one gets "black listed" for that. You get black listed when you can't contribute. 

[Gromnir]

is football, so will keep brief.  kaepernick numbers were ok with harbaugh, and then slipped into suckage range after harbaugh left the 49ers.  is easy to find articles predicting end o' kaepernick career as a starting qb from before his anthem protest, and we has posted links to multiple such in the nfl threads.  compounding problems for kaepernick were how his success in the nfl were limited to one variation o' the read-option: zone-option.  zone-option is arguable read-option in simplest form 'cause the qb only reads the defensive end.  nfl defenses picked up on zone-option gimmick within a couple seasons, which is why no team in the league relies exclusive on zone-read.  fact kaepernick were demanding starter consideration and monies were baffling to pretty much every pundit, right up until the protests.

 

am not certain why sitting for the anthem made kaepernick a better qb in 2016, 2017 and 2018 compared to 2015 and 2014. as a physically talented guy who could backup a starter, kaepernick deserved a looksee, but such ain't what kaepernick wanted. kaepernick sits and then many o' those experts who said the 49ers qb time were past inexplicable claimed bafflement when kaepernick were passed over during fa. weird.

 

however, am gonna admit we ain't so certain talent always trumps other issues, but the thing is, am admitted having a hard time imagining what would be threshold.  criminal behavior such as vick's weren't enough 'cause he had paid his debt to society, or so the narrative went. am thinking it would be different if the crime committed were sexual, but then is difficult to imagine a prison term as short as vick's 18 months for a sexual crime which would offend nfl fans and owners enough to effective blacklist.

 

...

 

perhaps if player crime were sexual & dog related?

 

HA! Good Fun!

[Guard Dog]

You are right about that. Even the accusation of child abuse or sexual assault would likely do it. But any kind of conviction for something like that would have them in prison for so long a comeback bid would be moot. Well, Rothlinsburger had to deal with something like that not too far back but I seem to remember that was a credibility problem with the complainant. 

 

That whole anthem protest thing and the reaction to it was so stupid. Doing something like that to purposely annoy people is dumb but actually getting annoyed by it is only rewarding the behavior. It's like training a dog. If they do something bad to get attention don't reward the behavior with attention. Even negative attention. If everyone had just let it go it would have died quietly in a week or two. Instead it turned into a two year absurdity that never quite seems to go away. On the other side CK & Co really should have kept their political protests to their own time. Don't bring your politics to the office. Levi's stadium was his office. Do whatever you feel is right on your own time but check it at the door when you go to work.  

Edited February 27, 2019 by Guard Dog

[Guard Dog]

#21 Did you catch that?

 

Jose Fernandez catches a line drive right off the bat of Tulo. Such a damn shame he passed away. 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N94vJZF5PhE