Frayed Knot

I suspect WFAN's desire for swapping Christie for Francesa is that they already have the proper sized chair.

Or you can flash back to the nearly-as-good .365/.442/.676 // 1118 he put up in the majors last April. Yeah it was in about half as many ABs (74) but it wasn't AAA and it wasn't in Vegas.

This back and forth between Manfred and the union is getting a bit testy over any proposed changes says Ken Rosenthal with the players side apparently wanting no part of any change and threatening retaliation if MLB implements changes. [Manfred] “doesn’t realize the fight he is picking. Four years from now, he will see absolute wrath if he makes the moves himself ... the union is listening to the players, and the players don’t want the changes.” He added that baseball is offering the players nothing in return. Another claimed that “If you try to control the game, you turn us into robots.” Union chief Tony Clark counters they baseball needs 'to educate the fans as to what goes on during the dead time and explain the nuances of the game'

We've also got to be getting down to the last few active umpires that were part of the failed labor negotiation tactic of the mass resignation back in 1999. Hirschbeck and Davidson were both part of that group so their MLB careers were long but not uninterrupted. Joe West took part in that too and he's still active, but then again I suspect West was umping games when Lindbergh was taking off on his flight.

btw, the IW is already an endangered species as the lowest five seasons for IW rates are the most recent five seasons. I'd like to think that's a result of increased sabermetric use and that we're past the days when fans and broadcasters would argue that walking Bonds EVERY time up was sound strategy. Only five players were IW'd as many as 15 times in 2016: Harper = 20 FFF (Freeman) = 18 Votto, Goldschmidt, Papi, & Miggy Cabrera 15 each. 10 years earlier there were 15 players IW'd at least 15 times led by Barry at 38 and Ryan Howard at 37. Two years before that Barry was issued 120

Maybe I missed it in this thread, but anyone know on average how many intentional walks there are per game? And I wonder what the average time of an IBB AB is? I would guess prob around 30-45 seconds or something. A minute tops? From Page 2 of this thread: There were 932 intentional walks in MLB last season, or less than one for every 2.5 games. So figure that: - On a night with a full slate of games (15) there'll be an average of 6 IWs - Estimating 30 seconds saved per automatic IW, that's three total minutes saved - Meaning that if those 15 games would normally take 2,700 combined minutes to complete [3 hours = 180 minutes x 15 games] we're now down to 2,697 minutes of game time, or 2:59:48 each [2,697 / 15] If JCL's number of 14 seconds per is more accurate then we're talking about less than 6 seconds/game of 'saved' time rather than 12

Yeah, previously filed stories now seem to be getting tweaked to read that the one change that might get done this year is be the automatic IW - presumably that's the lone one to which the PA is willing to give their stamp of approval, although nothing appears to be official yet. As I said earlier in this thread, that's about the last place I'd start and is also the place where it'll make the least amount of difference (my math estimates it'll shave a maximum of 12 seconds off the time of the average game) but I suppose Manfred wants to be seen as doing something and so he'll take what he can get while continuing to work towards more substantial things.

So I guess with no Hirschbeck going forward the game will have less spitting (see Alomar, Robbie), without Joyce's voice there'll be less noise at the park, without Davison fewer balks, and without Tim Welke MLB will be forced to soldier on with fewer Welkes (his brother Bill remains active).

MLB has announced the retirements of four long-time umpires: John Hirschbeck, Bob Davidson, Jim Joyce, and Tim Welke

"Unfortunately, it now appears there really won't be any meaningful rule change for the 2017 season due to a lack of cooperation from the MLBPA," said Commish Manfred at Cactus League Media Day. "I'm disappointed that we could not even get the MLBPA to agree to modest rule changes like limits on trips to the mound that have little effect on the competitive character of the game ... Despite this disappointment, we will continue to work with the MLBPA to effectuate change." However he then goes on to say that although the rule change provision in the Basic Agreement dictates that MLB has to propose changes during an offseason and then, if unable to reach an agreement, the process can continue over the course of the next season and offseason, but he then adds the agreement culminates "with a unilateral right to make playing rule changes." IOW (at least the way I'm reading things) if the player's union continues to resist the changes for another full year, [u:10wk41zb]MLB can simply enact whatever changes they want without union agreement[/u:10wk41zb]. http://m.mlb.com/news/article/216635016/rob-manfred-meaningful-changes-will-take-time/

The only problem with Yeonis being 'content' -- thanks to the long term contract and all -- is that you worry about him playing like he's content. Even as he's been coming up on contract negotiations for essentially the last three seasons straight, there's always a hint of taking plays off or games off. The year-plus that he's had since coming here have done enough to where you think about his diminished second and third seasons as the outliers and the dominant ones as the norm but they still do hang in the back of my mind as does the idea that he was on four teams in a year and a half span despite all that talent. YEAR * OPS 2012 -- 861 2013 -- 737 2014 -- 751 2015 -- 870 2016 -- 884

#4 = Jason Tyner

Well yeah, there's always the (continued) fall-off factor. They did sign lefty-swinging / 10-year AL vet Adam Lind to play back-up/platoon with Zimmerman at 1st. After getting more than they had any right to expect out of 30 y/o career minor leaguer Clint Robinson in that role in 2015, he couldn't come close to repeating it in 2016 so they went out and got Lind for the same roster slot. 2017 represents the final year for Werth under that mega-deal he signed as the Nats' first-ever big FA contract. He's fading and will turn 38 in May, but overall they've got to be happy with what they got out of his six going on seven seasons despite all the guff they took about overpaying when they signed him - a charge they pretty much admitted to but reasoned that they had to do so for the first one. I suspect Werth will hold up through this season better than Zimmerman who, despite being some 4-1/2 years younger, is fading faster, more banged-up, has nowhere left to go on the defensive scale, and still has three full years remaining on his (not quite as expensive) deal plus an option buy out to not make it four.

Lefty Specialist wrote: Rumor is that Norris or Lobaton may be part of a package for David Robertson so that they'd get that closer they desperately need. That the Nats having had Robertson on their radar for a while now and that the ChiSox are currently motivated sellers add up to something like this being quite likely before ST is out. If so the Nats will have plugged up their two biggest weaknesses.

Nationals said to be closing in on a deal for Matt Weiters No confirmation or details at this point. Weiters, now 31, never became the 'Pizza with the bat/Mauer with the Glove' monster some predicted for him, but he beats the combo that the Nats were left with following Wilson Ramos's injury then departure (Derek Norris + Jose Lobaton) and I fear there may just be one of those years in him somewhere. http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/w/wietema01.shtml

There was a Cardinal board I used to peak in on every once in a while; they were vicious over there, towards opponents AND at their own players. That whole 'Best Fans in Baseball' moniker is self-flattery.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: My guess is they'll let him play out the year and see where they're at in November. They can discuss bringing him back, or not, depending on how things look. I think that's the best way to go. People talk about his 'career year' last season, but it really wasn't a career year so much as it was a bit of an odd one. Basically his usual high number of doubles disappeared (35 per/600 ABs w/Pitt down to 13 per as a NYM!!) and had them turn into either extra singles (highest BA since his rookie year) or into HRs as he may only have tied his previous career best but, when you consider that 2016 was about 25 games/100 ABs short of his norm, it was definitely his HR-ing-est year ever. Whatever the cause for all that, 23 HRs and only 9 doubles is a strange combo no matter how you slice it and it's tough to say if that power jump is sustainable or what his year looks like if his pop suddenly returns to more normal levels for him. QO = 'Qualifying Offer', the minimum amount that must be tendered to a potential FA in order for the club to receive a draft pick as compensation for said FA leaving for another team. Last year that amount was $17.5 million.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: I like that. Definitely. We talked a while back about the heavy blue & red standards in MLB and this moves the Rox at least a bit further from the constraints of that pack.

Rockies going with a purpler shade of purple for this year. [fimg=500:22sf6o8s]http://www.denverpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/rockies-jersey.jpg?w=795[/fimg:22sf6o8s] That's the 2017 Arenado version on the left compared to 2016 to the right.

STRIKEOUTS: In 1998, he "only" struck out 42 times in 100 AB as a backup outfielder, although it feels like he struck out every time up after being acquired from the Twins. -- Richard Goodhard Becker

Yeah, just as Captain Renault once warned to his "Dear friend Rickie" about how throwing away women was wasteful as "one day they may be scarce", just substitute in 'league average left-handers' in that little piece of advice. If you don't think that guys who give you 25-30 starts per year across seven season at league average-ish ERAs and WHIPs have at least some value, go see what one of them, particularly one in his 20s, costs you on the open market. And during the peak of his time here (2012-14) Niese was giving us better than average stuff basically every fifth day (sub-3.50, 1.28 WHIP, 84 starts)

HOME RUNS: Finished sixth in the ROY voting despite only getting 109 AB, finished third in the balloting the following year, and then despite two more productive seasons, is generally regarded as a failure as a Met, hitting only 42 HR. -- Gregg Jefferies

If that's intended as a replacement for the current deal for a middle IF who'd be just turning 34 as the deal ends then one could at least make an argument in its favor. If it's in addition to the current QO deal then it starts to get a lot less attractive.

As long as the player agrees to it they can rip and replace all they want. Not so sure he'd agree to that right now, effectively opting for two years of guaranteed money against the downside that he wouldn't be able to go out and earn 2 years @ $6.5 per otherwise.

You wonder if the Yanx really foresee a possible niche for Niese (or a niese for Niche) or if the Steinbrenner DNA (inherited or just rubbed off) still dictates that all ex-Mets that can be picked-up are picked-up just on the off chance that a revival will allow the Yanx to 'steal' a player they can claim him as their own? We know this existed and that it was quite intentional with the late '80s crew [Darryl, Dwight, Cone, Mazzilli] when even long-shot pick-ups like Santana and Sid were brought in during their final year(s). But even now there's Ike, and Ruben, and now Niese just in the last six months, not to mention their ill-fated signing of Pedro Feliciano. Even with George dead and gone for years now, this seems to still happen too often to just dismiss as random coincidence.