Ceetar

Edgy MD wrote: NL Rookie of the Year for 2014? We might have to get a Billy Hamilton smear campaign going though.

Frayed Knot wrote: Frayed Knot wrote: Ray Liotta picks up hot looking chicks by drinking some pretentious sounding liquor that nobody has ever heard of. guess it's working then. It's hardly pretentious and actually quite pedestrian. I have no idea if the liquor is pretentious or not -- (I don't even know what kind of liquor it is, and I think that's pretty much the point of the ad, along the lines of: If have to ask ...blah, blah) -- but the ads are certainly designed to make the booze seem highfalutin' and pretentious. I just meant that it's a non-pretentious booze. It's Chevy pretending they're a Porsche not Porsche bragging about being a Porsche. I think it calls for a different sort of eye-roll. There's a different one where it's not a chick but a guy he's shaming into ordering a "real drink"

Frayed Knot wrote: Ray Liotta picks up hot looking chicks by drinking some pretentious sounding liquor that nobody has ever heard of. guess it's working then. It's hardly pretentious and actually quite pedestrian.

Edgy MD wrote: Murphy looking bad against Duke. He's got something after all. works the walk though, and now we're getting a guy for Wright. give 'em hell Wright.

Chris has a higher wRC+ than Eric again. Flores hasn't walked in 69 AB.

Edgy MD wrote: Where have you gone Juan Lageres? Inning all starts with that flare. He's just waiting for you to spell his name right.

just wish the speaker on my phone was louder. Couldn't hear the Granderson home run over my buttercream.

I will never get used to this. Ever. http://www.fansedge.com/league/mlb/team/new_york_mets/new_york_mets_busy_block_ugly_sweater/source/csefe12-pla-id1723596-3?gclid=CPHN0JiZ4b8CFWoR7AodHSsASA&kwid=productads-plaid^18283950120-sku^1723596@ADL43-adType^PLA-device^c-adid^54908997928 /adds to wishlist I know Citi Field's McFaddens once held a Holiday Party with prizes for the ugliest Christmas Sweater, I'm sure that would be a winning combo right there if they still run that! IIRC they are only open weekends for the college football/NFL crowds after the baseball season wraps, they usually have had "DRINK EVERYTHING UP SO WE DON'T THROW IT OUT" parties in January before closing for good until April. Sure they do. sure. (last January)

love 2-out save opportunities.

Edgy MD wrote: Seventh inning and running out of time. Think offensive thoughts. channeling Stephen A Smith. It's not working.

man, Abreu is terrible. Finished my second beer. Two Roads Ol Factory Pils. and Two Roads White IPA. So good. so fresh.

Edgy MD wrote: I haven't got used to Bald Beltran. He creeps me out. It's the striped uniform and oddly rigid NY logo that creeps me out.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Ignorant of what's actually going on. The fact is, some people in baseball want to do away with shifts and Verducci quoted them. well, that's _one_ person. yes. John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: �The shifts,� [veteran hitting coach] said. �Get rid of them. You need to come up with a definition of illegal defense. I know you�ll say, �Well, you�re a hitting coach. Of course you would [say that].� But it�s something that has really changed the game.� Verducci then illustrated with cold uncaring figures how the shift has impacted the game. This isn't actually true. Is it all due to the shift? Of course not. He then goes on to list some other reasons offense might be down. But let's ignore those. Let's pick one factor that's increased over the last 10 years and find something that's decreased and compare them. Lefthanded hitters have lost 22 points on their batting average on balls in play to rightfield this year alone � and 85 points in nine years. Yes. it makes sense that the shift had something to do with this. Defenses discovered that lefties hit the ball to one general area a whole lot. And they started standing in that area more. The idea that we should even legislate against that is pretty dumb, but we'll move along since that was the whole point of this article. He then cherry-picks some players who were all-stars 4 years ago and weren't this year. Ignoring things like age, fan voting, depth at that position, injuries, etc. But what about the idea that clearly this is legislating itself? If offense is down overall, these guys would still be tops, just with lesser numbers right? Where's my chart of percentage of righty sluggers in the ASG compared to 10 years ago? Perhaps the best hitters in the game have changed since 2010? Also, can we get some park factors worked into this babip argument? Yankee Stadium is tiny so of course the numbers are going to be lower for Carlos Beltran and Brian McCann and such. He includes Carlos Beltran here, references him as a slow-footed slugger which makes me think he doesn't know who Carlos Beltran is exactly. You know, the guy who might be one of the best base stealers in the history of the game? that guy? Yes, he's older and injured this year and has a negative (though not horrible) fanGraphs BsR this year. But he's not a lefty-pull hitter. 2014 spray chart when batting lefty. Sorry Tom, was I not supposed to fact-check you? Here's Jay Bruce. a little more pull happy (this is since 2007) but let's not pretend he's only using the right side of the field. And wait, are we even sure these are the guys most being shifted on? I'm not sure how to look that up. He also notes 2 of his 12 hand-picked sluggers DIDN'T struggle in this regard and 'beat the trend'. Not sure this is a representative sample Tom. And Ryan Howard? He sucks now. He sucks so much there are rumors the Phillies are going to flat out cut him. It's not the shift's fault. obligatory 'poor Yankees' reference about how the lefty guys they brought in just aren't getting it done. Woe is them. Stupid shift is keeping the Yankees down. He then claims no pull-hitters were selected in this years ASG and talks about how we didn't see shifts there. Alex Gordon's shifts are at least as obvious as your pre-selected list of sluggers Chase Utley This whole thing is a nightmare. He's referencing batting average EVERYWHERE like it's some super-meaningful statistic. We've learned, in part thanks to Sabermetrics, that's it's not everything. The rise of the low-BA high-power lefty is not something to lament, it's simply that teams of realized the value in that. We're drifting towards that whole "strikeouts are bad" argument here, which is really what's happening. Offense is down across baseball, strikeouts and hitting philosophies like that are leading to it. More hitters are willing to swing and miss in exchange for more power but less singles than ever before. He's using a random baseline, 25 HR and .300 average, as some sort of beacon like that's what makes a "great lefty slugger" when really it's just a number he pulled out of thin air and OF COURSE there were more of those in 1999! As if the difference between hitting .270 and .300 isn't just luck. And yes, the shift is designed to put the luck more in the defenses favor. Is that what Verducci is arguing? That dammit, let luck determine more? Did you know David Ortiz was a better player in 2004 than in 2014? He was a better year for offense and he was 29 instead of 39.. Oh let's pivot on 2008 when the Rays beat the Red Sox in the ALCS in part because in an EXTREMELY SMALL SAMPLE David Ortiz' hits didn't land on the grass. Let's use all the time with the Twins as part of our sample even though he clearly wasn't the same player then. And sure, let's just look at AB where he hit a single, double, or triple to RF or made an out to RF. Should we even consider that Ortiz, though never fast, probably did "beat out" more hits in his earlier days than his later ones? Then Tom says hitting is the hardest since 1972. 1972? Why 1972? what are we referencing here? And we're only actually talking about BA again. In 10 years we have lost 1,219 hits a season just by lefthanded hitters to rightfield. Wait, is that extrapolating off of Ortiz are did you apply the same numbers to the whole league? Again, only BA. What about HR? Can you give me the comparable slugging percentages to RF? Perhaps lefties are sacrificing singles for more power as has been suggested before via K numbers and the like. Additionally, by only looking at right field you are PURPOSELY ignoring any actual hitters who adjusted and started hitting to left and center more. Perhaps these numbers look this way because of the shift, but it completely ignores possible adjustments by the hitters. We might not have 'lost' hits, you might just not have noticed Beltran driving it into left center because you were focused on the 2Bman in RF. John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Finally, if you got that far, he concludes It�s easy to see what shifts are helping to do to the game. It�s not so easy to decide if something needs to be done about it. Nope. It's easy to see that shifts are helping defenses capitalize on hitter tendencies, and that that's part of the game. It's easy to see that fewer singles to RF are happening by lefty hitters. It's not so easy to decide if anyone's adjusted to it, if it's a cause for declining offense, or if we simply have less lefty-pull hitters in an era with less power. All in all, it's this sloppy use of statistics that give it a bad name.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Give us a break Ceets, the article was full of information and truthful. Would you prefer to be ignorant? ignorant of what? Verducci's opinions on how a ruling on defense shifts might shake out? We already know Verducci believes things about baseball that aren't true (They even call it the Verducci effect) so I'm not quite sure what I'd be ignorant of here. This isn't a report, it's an opinion piece.

Edgy MD wrote: There's the redemptorist notion that recent trends are all about Jeter. That everybody is tarred by the era, except Jeter the Pure. Heaven is barred until he reopens the gates. If I may blaspheme by analogy a bit. Hmm. Perhaps. Maybe we should just put Hall inductions on hold until Jeter's in. Should we wait the five years, or should next year we just call off the All-Star Game and having a Jeter break. Watch them erect a Jeter statue at the entrance to the HoF instead of the Home Run Derby. The reigning WS champions prostrate themselves at Jeter's feet in the room with the plaques (henceforth renamed Derek's Hall) while the top rookies of the league dust and polish Jeter's plaque and hang it on the wall above Ruth's instead of the future's game. Then instead of the All-Star Game Jeter takes a golden bat and 'knights' 9 players from each league and dubs them "All-Stars"

Frayed Knot wrote: --- Not a document, no, but insider-type chatter. The alternative is to ignore it but I don't see what purpose that serves. He's a reporter and he's reporting. insider-type chatter could mean as little as "Hey Bud, should we think about this?" Sure, we can talk about it. I'm not suggesting we ignore it. But I don't hold Verducci in high esteem and I don't think every dribbling thought that spews out of anyone's mouth is worth a baseball-wide discussion like it's something on Selig's desk" I put it on par with a random Adam Rubin tweet saying other teams might be interested in Bartolo Colon. Sure, we can talk about it, but let's not pretend Sandy's on the phone RIGHT NOW with Sabean. It's a stupid idea anyway. And what about all the defensive movings around? Is it still okay for the LF and 1B to switch positions? or are we strictly talking positioning and not substitution? Can I have my 2B and SS switch spots if one's more rangy based on lefty/righty? I hate offsides rules and that baseball doesn't really have them is part of the charm. No hard and fast position rules except during the actual action (pitching, fielding in the baseline,blocking the plate, etc) no clock, hell they didn't even have walls early on. (Is that still valid? Could you have a completely open outfield?) It's like saying intentional walks are hurting the offense because pitchers work around guys to pitch to the pitcher.

Following recent trends, Jeter shouldn't even make it first ballot.

Frayed Knot wrote: In fairness to Verducci he's just being the messenger here, I don't see where he's endorsing anything. He talked to one coach that said "make it illegal" claims it's "gaining traction" And then "supposes" what it would entail. He took some grumblings and extrapolated. It's not like this is some internal MLB document that they're mulling over.

hey, "Hit it where they ain't" has always been an offensive strategy right? Well the defenses started realizing maybe they should position where they hit it most. I'm not sure what game Verducci is envisioning baseball becoming, but I'm pretty sure if he had his way it wouldn't be a great one.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: I guess Neuiwy was the only guy to go but too bad. I confess I'm much gayer for him than for Recker. *cough cough* Chris Young.

Curtis Granderson � RF Daniel Murphy � 2B David Wright � 3B Lucas Duda � 1B Travis d�Arnaud � C Chris Young � LF Wilmer Flores � SS Juan Lagares � CF Dillon Gee � RHP

Edgy MD wrote: Wilmer uppage. Niewenhuis downage. We have a shortstop. Of sorts. batting 7th.

Edgy MD wrote: Well, there'll be redundancy either way. I would imagine if he doesn't get dealt, it won't be doubts about Harvey so much as Alderson not getting the deal he wants. And the thing about the contract is..he can put him on waivers and see if they get a deal that way in August. They can trade him in November. December. Spring of next year. early in the season next year if everyone they want to be in the rotation above him stays healthy and effective. in other words, we may be reading about Colon trade rumors for another full year.

TheOldMole wrote: MetFairy has it. Substitute he and him, and it's easy. And pitchers should pitch. Rather than limit innings, or count pitches, both of which are ridiculous if you're not a little leaguer, teach pitchers to pitch with some respect for the human arm, and teach them to be smart (can you do that?) You're up 2-1. 8th inning. You're at 90 pitches, with a runner on second and a slugger at the plate. What pitching _isn't_ pushing through any fatigue there? maybe subconsciously dropping their arm angle, pushing through a little pain?

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: TransMonk wrote: T I'll be visiting Miller Park on Saturday night where my family is planning to meet up with the vacationing Lunchbucket family for some pre-game tailgating. I may also get to the Sunday game if I can convince some of my softball teammates to take the trip with me. Woot! Also, Germanfest on Sunday. Pack your leiderhosen! du trinkst Bier! du Bretzen essen! Prost!