The Man Known as Dan Posted September 30, 2014 Share Posted September 30, 2014 I don't think there is any "More or Likely" on Kershaw winning Cy Young. More or likely he wins MVP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Lucia Posted September 30, 2014 Share Posted September 30, 2014 Stephen Strasburg was, very quietly, fantastic this year. 215 IP, 3.14 ERA, 242 K, 43 BB...but he got barely over three runs a start, and had a 14-11 record. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evilwaldo Posted September 30, 2014 Share Posted September 30, 2014 Cole Hamels syndrome. The Phillies have been taking his games off for the past few years now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimWresPowr Posted September 30, 2014 Share Posted September 30, 2014 Lots of debate it seems among Braves fans lately. Lots seem to feel the team needs to move away from being under such strict control of Schuerholz/Cox feeling that even with the success they had under that era that ultimately that only netted one WS win. And they had no budget constraints under Turner that they now have under Liberty. Thinking they can rebuild a team using the same philosophy they did then is flawed when their budget is middle of the pack. The thought continues that since Fredi is a Cox guy, they aren't going to fire him like they need to. Personally as closely as I follow the Braves, I admit I'm not an expert because I'm not in the business. I was a big enough fan of the Schuerholz/Cox era that I respect that they know more than I do. If their ideas ultimately fail that's fine but I think it's kind of arrogant as fans to turn our back on the architects of the glory years. I don't know, it is very frustrating to be a Braves fan right now & knowing that there's really no sign that our frustrations are going to end for at least another year. I've got 30+ years invested in this team and as many times as I wanted to give up this year & am still considering semi-switching allegiances, I just keep thinking back to the Cubs, if their fans continue to be hardcore for so many years, I can certainly make it thru a few lean years for the Braves. Or maybe I just track down footage of the "glory years" & watch that instead of the current product. I mean, it works for wrestling right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Lucia Posted September 30, 2014 Share Posted September 30, 2014 So if you want to rebuild the Braves using the Schuerholz/Cox line of thinking...walk into three future Hall of Famers (two of which were more dumb luck acquisitions than anything else), and sign one of the greatest pitchers ever as a free agent? Good luck with that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig H Posted September 30, 2014 Share Posted September 30, 2014 This guy talking about Cubs fans... Sheeeeeeit... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kuetsar Posted October 1, 2014 Share Posted October 1, 2014 I'd like to be the first to welcome the Oakland A's and their fans to this thread. The Lester to Boston watch is officially on. . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piranesi Posted October 1, 2014 Share Posted October 1, 2014 Always a BART ride away from October baseball. (it's still technically September in CA). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gonzo Posted October 1, 2014 Share Posted October 1, 2014 I know today is usually Black Monday in terms of firings...but I really don't think we're going to see any more managers shitcanned The only possibility is Fredi, but that decision will be made by the new GM, and since the bozos hiring the new GM love Fredi...nope. Rosenthal is floating a little tidbit that the Brewers might be considering firing Ron Roenicke. Oh. And you can add Ozzie Guillen to the list of guys who might have an interest in the Twins manager gig. I REALLY don't see that happening. Ozzie Guillen as manager of the Twins after Minnesota fans just ripped him at every opportunity when he was the White Sox manager would be. . .interesting. (insert Favre reference here) I'm actually hoping for Doug Mientkiewicz, who's managing the Twins' single-A team in Fort Myers. Probably doesn't hurt that he'd already have a relationship with Buxton and Sano. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Man Known as Dan Posted October 1, 2014 Share Posted October 1, 2014 I'd like to be the first to welcome the Oakland A's and their fans to this thread. The Lester to Boston watch is officially on. . . Yankees and Cubs are the more likely candidates, if I had to guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamhock Posted October 1, 2014 Share Posted October 1, 2014 Experimental pace of game rules to be tested at the Arizona Fall League: · Batter’s Box Rule: (batter shall keep at least one foot in the batter’s box throughout his at-bat) · No-Pitch Intentional Walks · 20-Second Rule [at 17 Salt River Fields home games only]: A modified version of Rule 8.04, which discourages unnecessary delays by the pitcher, shall apply. Rule 8.04 requires the pitcher to deliver the ball to the batter within 12 seconds after he receives the ball with the bases unoccupied. The penalty prescribed by Rule 8.04 for a pitcher’s violation of the Rule is that the umpire shall call “Ball.” · 2:05 Inning Break Clock · 2:30 Pitching Change Break Clock · Three “Time Out” Limit: Each team shall be permitted only three “Time Out” conferences per game (including extra innings). Such conferences shall include player conferences with the pitcher (including the catcher), manager or coach conferences with the pitcher, and coach conferences with a batter. Conferences during pitching changes, and time outs called as a result of an injury or other emergency, shall not be counted towards this limit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChesterCopperpot Posted October 1, 2014 Share Posted October 1, 2014 Jose Bautista owning a Toronto sports "journalist" not once - but twice today 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tabe Posted October 1, 2014 Share Posted October 1, 2014 Experimental pace of game rules to be tested at the Arizona Fall League: · Batter’s Box Rule: (batter shall keep at least one foot in the batter’s box throughout his at-bat) · No-Pitch Intentional Walks · 20-Second Rule [at 17 Salt River Fields home games only]: A modified version of Rule 8.04, which discourages unnecessary delays by the pitcher, shall apply. Rule 8.04 requires the pitcher to deliver the ball to the batter within 12 seconds after he receives the ball with the bases unoccupied. The penalty prescribed by Rule 8.04 for a pitcher’s violation of the Rule is that the umpire shall call “Ball.” · 2:05 Inning Break Clock · 2:30 Pitching Change Break Clock · Three “Time Out” Limit: Each team shall be permitted only three “Time Out” conferences per game (including extra innings). Such conferences shall include player conferences with the pitcher (including the catcher), manager or coach conferences with the pitcher, and coach conferences with a batter. Conferences during pitching changes, and time outs called as a result of an injury or other emergency, shall not be counted towards this limit. Batter's box - I don't really understand the point of this. Why not require them to have both feet in the box, ready to go, the entire time? No pitch intentional walks - I'm OK with this but, really, intentional walks are not an issue worth fussing over 20-second rule - So they went from 12 seconds to 20? I don't get it. 2:05 inning break clock - This would be great 2:30 pitching change break - I think this is too long. Make it 1:30 - or even less. How long does it take to signal to the bullpen, wait for the guy to jog (not walk) in, tell him "1st and 3rd, one out, fast guy on first, Cabrera at the plate", and walk back? And still allow 30 seconds for warmups? It doesn't take 2:30, that's for sure. Three "time out" limit - I like this one. I'd like to see it modified to not allow pitching changes are a team conference at the mound. If anybody visits the mound for a non-injury reason, the pitcher has to face at least one more hitter if he's not pulled. No more "giving the guy time to warm up" nonsense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RIPPA Posted October 1, 2014 Share Posted October 1, 2014 2:30 pitching change break - I think this is too long. Make it 1:30 - or even less. How long does it take to signal to the bullpen, wait for the guy to jog (not walk) in, tell him "1st and 3rd, one out, fast guy on first, Cabrera at the plate", and walk back? And still allow 30 seconds for warmups? It doesn't take 2:30, that's for sure. It does take 2:30 to air commercials - which again, the networks and mlb aren't going to give up on. And it takes longer than 30 seconds to warmup. To fit 8 pitches into 30 seconds, each pitch would have (throw and getting the ball back from catcher) to take approximately 3.5 seconds and that isn't gonna happen. Now if you wanted to shorten the amount of pitches a RP got to warmup - that is a different story but that rule proposal isn't what is being offered. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EdA Posted October 1, 2014 Share Posted October 1, 2014 Batter's box - I don't really understand the point of this. Why not require them to have both feet in the box, ready to go, the entire time? No pitch intentional walks - I'm OK with this but, really, intentional walks are not an issue worth fussing over 20-second rule - So they went from 12 seconds to 20? I don't get it. 2:05 inning break clock - This would be great 2:30 pitching change break - I think this is too long. Make it 1:30 - or even less. How long does it take to signal to the bullpen, wait for the guy to jog (not walk) in, tell him "1st and 3rd, one out, fast guy on first, Cabrera at the plate", and walk back? And still allow 30 seconds for warmups? It doesn't take 2:30, that's for sure. Three "time out" limit - I like this one. I'd like to see it modified to not allow pitching changes are a team conference at the mound. If anybody visits the mound for a non-injury reason, the pitcher has to face at least one more hitter if he's not pulled. No more "giving the guy time to warm up" nonsense. Ehh. These are a lot like HS rules when I played. Not saying those are good or bad, just that HS baseball tends/tended to have the same sort of deal. The one foot in the box deal was to get signs from the 3rd base coach. We were allowed to have one foot out and get the sign all the while the ump was on your back telling you to hurry up. No pitch intentional walk is a youth league deal as well. I know people are adamant about making the pitcher throw the 4 wide pitches just in case, but a wild pitch from an intentional walk happens so rarely, I don't see the point one way or other. The 20 second rule, I would guess would be an attempt to enforce the 12 second rule just with an 8 second bit of leeway? Who knows? Just pick a time AND ENFORCE IT. It's not like the rule was not already in the books. The timed delay things are all fine and all. But MLB sells commercials. So...shrug. I don't see MLB biting the hand that feeds them by cutting commercials. The catcher meetings with the pitchers used to annoy the crap out of me. But since Jason Varitek and Jorge Posada retired, I don't notice them so much. I would keep the coach/manager visit deals as they currently are (2 in an inning, 3 in a game), but only allow a defensive player to visit the mound once per inning. But if you are using the mound visit ban to merely prevent the stalling to get relievers warmed up, I mean, there are ways around that. God knows, if there is a guy on base, pitchers are unafraid to try pick off moves. So it's not like you can completely stop stall tactics. And yeah, what Rippa says about the reliever warm ups. Obviously, the relievers don't need 8 pitches since they have been heating up in the pen. But they would need SOME to get acclimated to the mound on the field. I suppose you could cut those to 5 pitches, but since everyone is precious about pitchers, I don't see that happening anytime soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RIPPA Posted October 1, 2014 Share Posted October 1, 2014 The NY Times has a nice little obit for George Shuba who passed away yesterday You could basically say he was the man who shook Jackie Robinson's hand Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tabe Posted October 1, 2014 Share Posted October 1, 2014 2:30 pitching change break - I think this is too long. Make it 1:30 - or even less. How long does it take to signal to the bullpen, wait for the guy to jog (not walk) in, tell him "1st and 3rd, one out, fast guy on first, Cabrera at the plate", and walk back? And still allow 30 seconds for warmups? It doesn't take 2:30, that's for sure. It does take 2:30 to air commercials - which again, the networks and mlb aren't going to give up on. And it takes longer than 30 seconds to warmup. To fit 8 pitches into 30 seconds, each pitch would have (throw and getting the ball back from catcher) to take approximately 3.5 seconds and that isn't gonna happen. Now if you wanted to shorten the amount of pitches a RP got to warmup - that is a different story but that rule proposal isn't what is being offered. Well, my proposal before was to give X number of seconds for a reliever to warm up and they get however many pitches they get. 30 seconds is plenty to warm up - they're already loose from the bullpen. 2 pitches on the new mound and they're good to go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tabe Posted October 1, 2014 Share Posted October 1, 2014 The 20 second rule, I would guess would be an attempt to enforce the 12 second rule just with an 8 second bit of leeway? Who knows? Just pick a time AND ENFORCE IT. It's not like the rule was not already in the books. Honestly, the simple fix to this is to put clocks in the ballpark. It works for basketball and football. Put a clock on the wall and FORCE the umpires to enforce the rule. Without some objective thing separate from the umpires that people can actually see, this rule will get ignored. And, really, 20 seconds is waaaaaaaaaaaay too long. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odessasteps Posted October 1, 2014 Share Posted October 1, 2014 I heard former players moaning about the potential injury risks by pitchers not warming up correctly. I think some ideas are food but prob only a few are impractical. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odessasteps Posted October 2, 2014 Share Posted October 2, 2014 @marlins Earlier today, Jose Fernandez threw 25 throws from 30 feet at #Marlins Park. INFO: http://t.co/3ft2kqYLU9 http://t.co/huZdZvHmFs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamhock Posted October 2, 2014 Share Posted October 2, 2014 Honestly, the simple fix to this is to put clocks in the ballpark. It works for basketball and football. Put a clock on the wall and FORCE the umpires to enforce the rule. Without some objective thing separate from the umpires that people can actually see, this rule will get ignored. And, really, 20 seconds is waaaaaaaaaaaay too long. They are going to have clocks up in multiple spots for the 20 seconds: In the AFL games at Salt River, a clock will be displayed in both dugouts, behind home plate, and in the outfield. The clock will be operated by an independent operator, who is not a member of the umpire crew. A pitcher shall be allowed 20 seconds to throw each pitch. The batter must be in the box prepared for the pitch during the entire 20-second period. If the batter steps out of the box during the 20-second period, the pitcher may deliver the pitch and the umpire may call a strike, unless the batter was first granted time by the umpire. As described in Rule 6.02b Comment, umpires may grant a hitter's reasonable request for "Time" under appropriate circumstances. The 20-second clock shall begin when the pitcher is in possession of the ball, regardless of whether the batter is in the box or otherwise alert to the pitcher; provided, however, that (1) with respect to the first pitch to each batter, the clock shall begin when the batter is in the box, alert to the pitcher, (2) with respect to a pitch to a batter following a play in which the pitcher was involved as a fielder (including backing up throws), the clock shall begin when the batter is in the box, alert to the pitcher, and the pitcher has entered the dirt circle to approach the pitcher's plate to begin pitching to the batter, and (3) after a hitter fouls off a pitch, the clock shall begin when the umpire points to the pitcher and says "Play." Please note that the Official Baseball Rules governing quick pitches still apply. The clock will stop only when the pitcher begins his motion to deliver the ball (and not "when the pitcher releases the ball" as prescribed in Rule 8.04). Beginning the motion of coming to the set position shall be sufficient to stop the clock. If the pitcher maintains possession of the ball without beginning his pitching motion for more than 20 seconds, the Umpire shall call "Ball." The umpire shall give the pitcher a reasonable opportunity to take his proper position on the pitcher's plate after the umpire has called a ball and before the umpire calls a successive ball pursuant to this Rule. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Fowler Posted October 2, 2014 Share Posted October 2, 2014 · No-Pitch Intentional Walks I was always a fan of this idea until a few weeks ago when the Tigers scored on a wild pitch during an attempted intentional walk. I'd always known people to argue the "just in case" but I had never seen it happen before (and may never again) but it was amazing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odessasteps Posted October 2, 2014 Share Posted October 2, 2014 Also rules out the fake intentional walk, which i think was done by or on johnny bench. Edit Oakland A's Fool Johnny Bench Fake Intentional Walk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kuetsar Posted October 2, 2014 Share Posted October 2, 2014 I'm in the "no clocks" at all in baseball camp. You want to start hand out fines for excessive preening and stepping out of the box? Fine, but they have been playing the game essentially unaltered for 110 years and they ought to keep it that way. I understand the impulse behind the wanted reforms, but I don't trust MLB leadership to do anything right. I mean they put in the second wild card for God's sake. . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Fowler Posted October 2, 2014 Share Posted October 2, 2014 I'm in the "no clocks" at all in baseball camp. You want to start hand out fines for excessive preening and stepping out of the box? Fine, but they have been playing the game essentially unaltered for 110 years and they ought to keep it that way. I understand the impulse behind the wanted reforms, but I don't trust MLB leadership to do anything right. I mean they put in the second wild card for God's sake. . . That right there is a damn good point. Christ I still hate the second wild card. Just look at how it drained most of the drama out of the two Central division races coming down to the last day of the season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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