Major League Baseball thread

[tygrkhat40]

I come from a long line of Yankee haters. My grandfather was a Tigers fan from the days of Ty Cobb and the Yankees were called the Highlanders. Subsequently, his daughter (mom) and granddaughter adopted the Tigers. My grandmother was a Dodgers fan, her son (dad) was a Cardinals fan because of Stan Musial. My older sister is a Mets fan because when the Mets won the WS in 1969, the Catholic school principal (a nun) called it a miracle and we got a day off. My other sister lives west of Cleveland and has adopted the Indians. I've adopted the Cardinals in honor of my dad, but I've always liked the A's since the Charlie Finley days and they're the only MLB team to wear my favorite color, green.

[Arturo2nd]

I'm in a tough place with the Dodgers. Part of me hates them on sight. Part of me admires the hell out of Clayton Kershaw. Back in the day, it was impossible to hate Sandy Koufax, but it really sucked when he pitched against the Giants because it was so hard to beat him. Life is really going to suck for us NL West fans now that the Dodgers have rich and smart ownership again.

That early '70s A's team was wonderful to watch. Later, Rickey Henderson was the Pride of Oakland.

The Yankees are something else. So many great players, but it is such a pleasure when they lose. A lot of it is envy, I suppose.

[Arturo2nd]

Received my copy of Baseball Prospectus - 2018 today. Their staff appears to agree that it will be a long year with few highlights for Bay Area baseball fans.

The two organizations have vastly different philosophies. The Giants repeatedly throw large sums of money at veterans in their 30s with predictably disappointing results. The As unload players approaching free agency, employ younger squads that sometimes become exciting, and sometimes crash and burn with the youngsters. At least Lew Wolff has been bought out and the team appears to be making an effort to attract the fan base again. The East Bay is actually good baseball country and the As have fans extending into the Central Valley. They drew as many as 2.9 million in the Bash Brother years.

The Giants think they will contend, but I will be surprised if they rise above 4th. The As with all their youngsters could finish anywhere from 2nd to 5th, but don't rate to unseat Houston.

BTW, I hope Justin Verlander can rack up a couple of big years and cement his Hall of Fame case. He's been the dominant pitcher of this era, but caught in the pitch count limits and denied the chance to put 20 win seasons. Supposedly, the Astros corrected a flaw in his delivery and ramped his velocity back up. If he can pitch a whole season like the 11 starts he made for them, he'll easily win 20 and the Cy Young Award. It won't hurt pitching for a team that puts 5.53 runs per game on the board when he has an off night.

[Arturo2nd]

I am reading through the Baseball Prospectus - 2018 and have looked at the Padres in depth. They should have some more interesting prospects filling roles on the field this year. Franchy Cordero has star potential. Eric Hosmer gives them a another middle of the order bat, and Freddy Galvis ought to stabilize the infield and provide an average bat in the order. Clayton Richard and Luis Perdomo return to the rotation with the three remaining spots TBD. There seem to be plenty of competent relievers and they should get plenty of work.

I had forgotten about the additions of Longoria, McCutchen, and Austin Jackson when I wrote about the Giants earlier. If they don't slip too much and a couple of other guys rebound, the Giants should be in the mix with Arizona and Colorado. This assumes Bumgarner and Cueto bounce back somewhat. I am kind of expecting Bumgarner to be embarrassed about last season and have a career year.

I am actually expecting Arizona to slip some feeling that several guys had really good years and are unlikely to play that well again. I'm not sure about the Rockies, but have a feeling they are going to be be tough to beat this year. The Dodgers have to be favored to repeat. They have more grade A prospects banging on the door.

All this means that I expect the Padres to return to fifth despite improving. The Giants are just a year or two away from being pathetic this whole team will get old together and the farm system looks empty.

[Arturo2nd]

Originally Posted by bigtrain45

Ok. Time for my rant about pitching. Pitchers throw less than ever before, yet are injured more than ever before. In the 50's, 60's, and 70's it was typical for a front-line starter to throw 250-300 innings every year. Now that is a rarity. Pitchers also used to be expected to pitch 9 innings each time out, and now that is extremely rare. I believe that the problem primarily now is pitching mechanics. In the old days most pitchers threw straight over the top, finished facing the hitter, ready to field their position. Now, almost every pitcher spins off to the side, sometimes so much so they end up with their ass facing the batter. It is my belief that these mechanics lead to many injuries, especially the oblique injuries that have become so common, since that spinning off to the side puts so much stress on the muscles on the side.
Limiting pitches and innings has done nothing to reduce the rate of injuries and surgeries, because if you're doing it wrong, no matter how seldom you do it, it's bad for you. If the pitcher's mechanics were correct, like Greg Maddux as the most recent example, throwing more innings or pitches would not be a problem.
When it comes to learning a skill, when has it ever helped anyone to do it less? Can you imagine a hitting coach limiting his guys to 20 swings a day, or an infield coach limiting his fielders to 20 grounders a day?
End of rant; for now.

I have copied bigtrain45's rant from the 2017 thread to this one. Reading the Baseball Prospectus has brought the idiocy of what's going on in baseball these days to mind. I am looking at all these minor league starting pitching prospects throwing less than 100 innings per year. One kid was being yanked at the 3 inning mark. Just how the hell is a guy supposed to learn his craft if you don't let him work through the line up a couple of times? How is he supposed to build up the arm strength and endurance needed to consistently throw 100 to 110 pitches every fifth day?

I understand wanting to protect their arms, and I understand wanting your starters to have life in their arms for the post season. But how about hiring kinesiologists and other experts to get their mechanics in order. Nolan Ryan was throwing gas in his mid forties because his mechanics were sound. Red Ruffing, Early Wynn, and several other Hall of Fame pitchers had their careers turned around by knowledgeable pitching coaches.

I recently read a book by a guy who washed out, but shortly before was told by a rookie hitter that he was tipping his pitches. It is said that Yu Darvish was tipping his pitches in the World Series without the Dodgers noticing. (On the other hand I have read that Koufax tipped his pitches, but they still couldn't hit him.) There is an opportunity for an organization to get creative and dominate baseball like the Braves did in the 1990s and the Dodgers did in the 1960s and 70s. Are you listening, New York Mets?

[bigtrain45]

Koufax did tip his pitches, and it didn't matter. Pitchers used to have game plans for getting the opposing hitters out 4 times each, if necessary, and made good use of what Jim Palmer calls the "variable chance fastball." What he means is you don't throw every fastball at maximum velocity. If your peak is 95, you mix in some at 90 or even 85, because pitching is all about disrupting the hitter's timing. As for this season, depending on who else is signed or injured this spring, my picks for the playoff teams in the AL are New York, Boston, Cleveland, Houston, and Minnesota. In the NL, Washington, Chicago, Milwaukee, Los Angeles, and St. Louis.

[Arturo2nd]

Originally Posted by bigtrain45

Koufax did tip his pitches, and it didn't matter. Pitchers used to have game plans for getting the opposing hitters out 4 times each, if necessary, and made good use of what Jim Palmer calls the "variable chance fastball." What he means is you don't throw every fastball at maximum velocity. If your peak is 95, you mix in some at 90 or even 85, because pitching is all about disrupting the hitter's timing. As for this season, depending on who else is signed or injured this spring, my picks for the playoff teams in the AL are New York, Boston, Cleveland, Houston, and Minnesota. In the NL, Washington, Chicago, Milwaukee, Los Angeles, and St. Louis.

Funny, I was just reading comments the other night from Dazzy Vance in the 1920s. Mind you, Dazzy was the power pitcher in the National League then. All the hitters of that era talk about how hard he threw and his overhand curve, but Dazzy said he would only throw his best fastball 4 or 5 times a game.

[Ennath]

Originally Posted by bigtrain45

Koufax did tip his pitches, and it didn't matter. Pitchers used to have game plans for getting the opposing hitters out 4 times each, if necessary, and made good use of what Jim Palmer calls the "variable chance fastball." What he means is you don't throw every fastball at maximum velocity. If your peak is 95, you mix in some at 90 or even 85, because pitching is all about disrupting the hitter's timing. As for this season, depending on who else is signed or injured this spring, my picks for the playoff teams in the AL are New York, Boston, Cleveland, Houston, and Minnesota. In the NL, Washington, Chicago, Milwaukee, Los Angeles, and St. Louis.

Wasn't it Warren Spahn who said "Hitting is timing. Pitching is upsetting timing".

[Arturo2nd]

Speaking of Warren Spahn, the man won 363 games in his career while pitching a complete game in 382 of his 665 starts. He won 20 or more games 13 times during a 17 year period where he pitched at least 245 innings every year. He spent 3 years in the Army during World War II and didn't get his first major league win until age 25.

When Spahn was 20 and 21 he pitched in the minor leagues during 1941 & 42. He threw 460 minor league innings and an additional 15 innings in the majors during those seasons. Only Phil Niekro, Nolan Ryan, Gaylord Perry, and Don Sutton pitched more innings in the lively ball era, although Steve Carlton was only 26 innings behind. It is very hard to see how throwing a lot of pitches did any harm to those guys.

[tygrkhat40]

Spahn was in the Braves organization for the majority of his career. His first major league action came with the Boston Braves, who were managed by Casey Stengel. He finished his Hall of Fame career with the New York Mets, managed by Casey Stengel. Spahn said that he was the only guy who played for Casey before and after he was a genius.

Gotta pump up Warren Spahn. Buffalo native, graduate of South Park HS (there is a neighborhood in south Buffalo with that name), arguably the greatest pro athlete from the Queen City.