Centerfield

=41Forever post_id=23778 time=1570218143 user_id=69] I love the Twins!

Frayed Knot wrote: =batmagadanleadoff post_id=23749 time=1570199327 user_id=68] And will home plate umps be replaced entirely, or will they remain to call safe/out plays at home, and to decide whether a batter checked his swing or not, or whether he fouled tipped the ball as opposed to completely whiffing on it? And come to think of it, as I'm writing this post, I doubt that the home ump will be replaced, at least in my lifetime. MLB will simply install a robot ball/strike caller when the time comes. The HP ump isn't going anywhere. He still needs to be responsible for four tips, caught/not-caught, pop-ups, fair/foul up until the bases, safe/out at the plate and maybe at other bases when an outfield hit requires a rotation, as well as half-swings which they might even take back more control of those on account of not having to watch the placement of the ball. And he's still going to be the guy to indicate the B/S calls based on what robo-ump (and R-U administrator) tells him through an earpiece plus maybe a light indicator on the scoreboard based on a version I saw.

The Twins didn't impress me at all when the Mets played them. I remember thinking to myself "How can this team be a playoff contender?" MFY's in 3. No game is close.

Interesting choice of thread name. I would have gone with "NYY FIRST ROUND BYE"

If Ben Grimm were running this contest there would have been a ceremony. Ben, do you have any interest in putting something together to honor JD? I can give you my list of caterers.

=LWFS post_id=23716 time=1570151667 user_id=84] Suck it, Atlanta. I guess I'm a situational St. Loo Boo.

Saw a Make Atlanta Great Again Sign. As if I needed to hate them even more.

So I'm thinking JD Davis. Dom Smith Honorable Mention?

Two teams I hate. The one thing I'll root for is for Josh Donaldson to have a crazy good series, so that some team will give him a multi-year deal to leave Atlanta.

I rarely agree with Wilpon/Brodie, so I feel it's important to point out when I do. Canning Mickey and Riggleman are good moves. So is publicly coming out in support of Noah and Diaz.

I bought into the "smart guy" propaganda that winter too. But immediately upon starting it didn't seem the case. Even during the 11-1 start I questioned his bullpen usage. Turned out to be just the tip of the iceberg. My first impression of him was that I didn't like the way he spoke. It's kind of a weird accent or cadence that's extremely off-putting. As time wore on it became more and more grating. I think he is my least favorite manager of all time. And that's saying something considering how much I didn't like WWSB. Went fishing with Don Jr. about ten seconds into his regime. We shoulda known then.

Tracky's list of potential replacements is a little suspect. David Cone? Bruce Bochy? https://www.sny.tv/mets/news/intel-on-13-potential-replacements-for-outgoing-mets-manager-mickey-callaway/310996638https://www.sny.tv/mets/news/intel-on-13-potential-replacements-for-outgoing-mets-manager-mickey-callaway/310996638 Joe Girardi Buck Showalter Luis Rojas Mike Matheny A.J. Hinch Joe Espada David Cone Joe Maddon John Gibbons Carlos Beltran Bruce Bochy Fredi Gonzalez Robin Ventura Not on the list per CF: Cookie Rojas Mel Rojas John Madden Jesse "The Body" Ventura

Terrific!

I don't think he would communicate well with the press, and eventually they would turn on him. I think he would be fine at communicating with teammates.

[YOUTUBE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSye10_CAfYhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSye10_CAfY[/YOUTUBE] Watch these highlights of 2018 Diaz, in particular the strikeouts on his slider. Not once did we see movement like that in 2019. His slider starts out in the zone then falls off a table. Couple that with his rising fastball and the hitter is up there in a guessing game. His slider in 2019 was flat and missed its spots. When you have a two-pitch pitcher, the margin is razor thin to begin with. I think this is why you see so such variation from year to year with relief pitchers. When those two pitches are both thrown hard, with little speed differential, that margin gets even thinner. When a player struggles it's always a combination of factors. Maybe the league just figured out how to attack a two-pitch guy. Maybe his location was off, maybe some of it is in his head and maybe some more of it was bad luck. But here, it's clearly his slider. If he finds it (ball goes back to normal or whatever) he'll be fine. If it stays like this he'll be Kane Davis. Which brings us back to my point about the changeup. deGrom turned his season around once he realized his slider wasn't what it once was and started using his changeup effectively. If Diaz can learn to mix in a changeup, he'll be more effective, even if he can't recover his slider. And if he has all three, he'll be out of this world. But not everyone can just learn a new pitch. We'll have to see.

The following things would definitely happen if Carlos Beltran were to get the manager job: 1. He'd be terrific. 2. Fans wouldn't get it. 3. We'd hear about the strikeout from idiots every time they got mad. 4. He would not be given the talent to win the division, then would be blamed for losing by fans and management. The Wilpons would throw him under the bus and it would end poorly. That being said, as much as I love Carlos, he did seem to me like he was a sensitive guy. And that's a death sentence for a Mets manager.

I've heard this before that since closers are involved with high-leverage runs that WAR is not a great measure of their value. This is great work. And it illustrates a lot of what went wrong this season. That being said, it's dangerous to think that simply patching up the pen makes us a contender next season. Sure the pen has to be addressed, but the offense was still middle of the pack, and the starting pitching, though strong, has to remain strong. That means bringing back Wheeler (or another top of the rotation guy) and getting a 6th starter/long man that is more serviceable than Chris Flexen.

It looks like he changed his signature. Wonder why.

The Milwaukee fans gave the racist, homophobic, pitcher a standing ovation when he returned. They didn't forgive him. They didn't begrudgingly take him back. They gave him a standing fucking ovation. I suspect that scene sticks in the minds of minorities more than the average white fan. Nice city. Also, https://www.wuwm.com/post/ranking-milwaukee-still-countrys-most-segregated-metro-area#stream/0most https://www.governing.com/topics/politics/gov-milwaukee-most-segregated-polarized-place.htmlsegregated https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/special-reports/milwaukee-violence/2019/07/10/milwaukee-segregation-how-we-measure-and-define/1523075001/city in the https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2015/03/05/390723644/why-is-milwaukee-so-bad-for-black-peopledamn https://www.thecut.com/2016/08/milwaukee-shows-what-segregation-does-to-american-cities.htmlnation, thanks to perhaps the most pervasive metro-area https://www.wiscontext.org/how-redlining-continues-shape-racial-segregation-milwaukeeredlining. *NOTE: In case you don't care to click through to what are some fascinating, in-depth articles, it's worth noting that each of those is to a different one, dating to a different time in the last 10-15 years. Fist bump.

The racist pig will cost them their season. Damn shame.

Minority: they gave the racist a standing ovation. Assholes. White guy: I was just there. It's such a nice city. Go Brew Crew!

My takeaway. The Mets are a considerable distance from the NL elite. They need to improve significantly this offseason. Unfortunately there is a good chance they will start 2020 in the same place or slightly worse.

So yeah. Fuck the Brewers. Then fuck the Nationals right afterwards if they manage to come back.

The Milwaukee fans gave the racist, homophobic, pitcher a standing ovation when he returned. They didn't forgive him. They didn't begrudgingly take him back. They gave him a standing fucking ovation. I suspect that scene sticks in the minds of minorities more than the average white fan.

sEnD thEM CAnO aNd DiaZ