2017 regular-season game chatter

http://i.imgur.com/oa92D2c.png

More likely not to happen than to happen, but Orioles opening-day starter Kevin Gausman COULD develop into an ace, and I think it's gonna happen this year if it's gonna happen.

now that mlb audio is back in my life, can we talk about how brutally awful this 'classic' call of Michael Kay calling Mariano Rivera's record breaking save is? I hate it so hard.

happy to die w/out hearing that

like dude, if you have to explain it...

MARIANO GETS THE SAVE AND ITS PERFECT BECAUSE HE IS THE BEST CLOSER NOW HE HAS THE MOST SAVES YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

i think michael kay is ok
*ducks*

you can always do worse(tm) but I'd prefer clips of Vin Scully reading the newspaper to Kay's Rivera call.

bryce harper hit his fifth opening day homer

he is 24 years old

that seems like a record unlikely to be broken...ever

syndergaard has a blister. if he was rich hill he'd be gone for the next 6-8 weeks.

impressed by yandy diaz & his ab vs darvish resulting in his 1st mlb hit

EDWIN!!!!!!

we might win 120 games this year.

Half-heard this over the radio, and can't quite pin it down, but Pederson's 5 RBI today were the most for a Dodger (or maybe a Dodger under 25) since Van Lingle Mungo in 1935. Yes--Van Lingle Mungo!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOvvJTv_E_w

Would love to see EE have a monster year (and celebrate by firing his agent).

(xpost) Opening Day RBI, that is.

162-0.

Well it's a rough start for the Mariners but I think they've got a solid chance at runner-up for that second wild card spot.

lol rangers

Sixth- or seventh-hand: "Heard on the Mets' radio broadcast just now: the last time a MLB season didn't have either Vin Scully or Connie Mack involved: 1885."

Mariners tonight: thanks to fantastic pitching actually have a chance to win as the Astros bullpen walks 4 straight with nobody out in the top of the 13th. They of course fail to drive anyone else in, 0-for-13 with RISP (1-for-30 in the series), and the rookie in his first appearance blows it in the bottom half.

this watch every game on every device slogan makes me lol

https://s0.2mdn.net/3627886/728x90_MLBTV_OpeningWeek.jpg

Yeah, no shit. I just spent the opening week of baseball watching incredibly laggy cardinals/cubs games because I had to use a VPN to trick MLB.com into thinking I was from Mexico just so I could watch it, all while forking out $100+ to them.

@fergoe
Harold Reynolds just said that he doesn't like K/9 for relievers b/c they don't pitch 9 innings, so they should call it K/1 or K/2

why isn't Harold in the Trump admin?

@morsecode
The 2017 @Twins are the 6th team in MLB history to open a season w/ a 4-game win streak after losing 100+ games in the previous year. #elias

well i'd like to see the season's records of those teams in the second year...

Buxton has 11 Ks in 18 at bats.

Phillies currently 12 ahead of the Nats in the first.

wau @ jeremy guthrie being on a 25-man roster

kershaw gives up another homer

to arenado at coors, tbf

really hope trea turner's ok

kershaw is bad now

omg confirmed bad

14-pitch felix vs trout at bat is baseball porn

trout freaking owns felix man

Dbacks are on fire to start the season 45 runs so far

do you guys remember that thing that came out last year where you could program mlb.tv to jump to various players/teams based on an algorithm you can set?

hmm...i don't know about auto-jumping to different games, but you can set a fantasy tracker to alert you when specific players come up so you can watch their AB in the corner.

there was definitely a script someone wrote where you could get it to do that and it was awesome

found it!!

http://seamheads.com/baseballgauge/GameChanger.php

whoa, that's awesome! i gave it a test run and it works well. i wish i had a better internet connection, everything is so laggy that even watching a single game is agonizing enough. but if i ever have a stable connection i will be using that for sure.

here is a writeup that explains it a bit https://theringer.com/mlb-tv-game-changer-redzone-4e5d5e81c99c

this thing is so cool

Currently Showing
SF & SD
Reason: Johnny Cueto pitching
Priority #15

it even does this

Currently Showing
SEA & LAA
Reason: Highest leverage game
No priority items were met

holy shit are the mariners terrible

well, blew an 8-1 lead in the 7th! good job Anaheim Trouts

still have them as a wild card team.

I don't get the love for the M's. (As a playoff team)

Yeah, putting my assumptions of inevitable failure for the rest of their existence aside, i wouldn't bet on it if I were an objective observer. Certainly a shot, but there are a lot of elements that have to work out exactly as envisioned, so things kinda crumble with a couple injuries or a mediocre year for Felix/Cruz/Cano. Starting pitching has been impressive though, and they might have doubled their run total in tonight's humiliation.

https://twitter.com/KNBR/status/851554067285327873

Sloppy D in this Cards-Nats game (but no 3-run swinging bunts yet).

Didn't know he'd been missing, didn't know of his other ordeals--made the last out of the '92 Series.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2702815-former-mlb-player-otis-nixon-found-by-local-police-after-being-reported-missing?utm_source=cnn.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=editorial

feelin' pretty sorry for the ongoing struggles of Byron Buxton; closing in on 150 career games with .212/.265/.382.

30 PA, 17 K this year

3 HR thru 5 innings for Cespedes

pretty intense collision at first base between brett gardner (runner) and rickie weeks (making his third career appearance at 1B). both left the game

the dumbest baseball anecdote of all time that i have now heard more than once:

"bryce harper wears #34 to honor mickey mantle. 3 + 4 is 7, which was mickey mantle's number"

of course, everyone wearing 16, 25, 43, 52, and 61 are also honoring mantle whether they want to or not

Trea Turner is 7, Bruce is pissed he didn't think of it first.

Speaking of #7, Manuel Margot is off to a great start. His name will eternally remind me of my first crush Margot Manueli. Anyway, 23% K rate and .391 babip is probably not sustainable, but even if those numbers come down there is something other things to enjoy. That Kimbrel trade is paying off.

zach lee's second career appearance went much better than the first

http://media.gettyimages.com/photos/portrait-of-ron-leflore-picture-id515125122?s=612x612

goldschmidt gets kershaw's first walk of the year

meanwhile mookie betts hasn't struck out in 110 PAs

yelich w a bomb

http://i.imgur.com/RluM6l7.png

no thanks

Dyson and Rangers doing their best to blow the 9th in Seattle

judge hits a very clear HR - the fan catches it (above the wall, clearly) but then drops it, and the ball flies back on the field. the umpires review it, thinking it might be fan interference. a long delay ensues, even though clearly was a home run. they call it fan intereference, judge gets a 3B. luckily greg bird crushed the very next pitch.

please enjoy me on the next episode of very slow countdown to adam wainwright's retirement

@jonmorosi
Bizarre start to '17: #Indians have given up most runs in @MLB, followed by #STLCards. #BlueJays have worst record, Cardinals 2nd worst.

matt holliday sort of looks like a fit alex jones

my wife said he looks like brad pitt sometimtes

David Freese, World Series hero, finds greater triumph in depression battle

a friend of mine said he met freese at a columbia house party a long time ago, and that he was a really, really nice and "normal" person.

loooooooool that non-catch in LF in the TOR-LAA game

murph

Thames has two more HR tonight. I guess there's something of a precedent for this, when Cecil Fielder came back from his year in Japan and hit 51 (when no one hit 50). Thames is slugging .925 right now.

Ha ha wow.

27 runs in colorado, 28 in detroit

Came on to post the same thing--probably not a record for two games, but must be close.

pirates have called up infielder gift ngoepe, who will be the first african-born major leaguer

Cool! how the fuck do you say that name?

N-go-pay

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnJZzGq11rU

Ngoepe singled in his first AB.

should i be watching something besides TB-BAL in the 11th?

the inevitable no-hitter in at&t park by alex wood.

@LangoschMLB
The #STLCards just loaded the bases on two pitches to open the 11th. That was never possible before this season.

Probably wasnt possible before Matheny got a job either

@dgoold
Maybe it's time for Team Earned Runs. There is definitely an argument if a pitcher never throws a pitch for intentional BB why is it his ER?

hmm

as the mania of poor decisions continues to grow, the local beat begins to push against metaphysical boundaries

tbf, both those tweets were in reference to the cardinals loading the bases on offense #gibbonsaging

tanaka threw a maddux tonight

@washingnats
C.C. Sabathia was rocked tonight. Seven runs in 5 2/3 innings. Whoa!!!!!!!

WOAH

lol
Kinda odd

GIFT NGOEPE .800/.857/1.200

imo

cody allen is a beast

darvish vs trout round 1 results in a K

Adam Eaton out for the rest of the season?

second game in a row trout gets bailed out by a clear strike 3 called a ball and then hits a double on the next pitch

darvish has lost 2 curveballs in the general direction of pujols' face

ugh adam eaton is awesome

Ivan Nova is the first pitcher with five complete games and four or fewer walks in his first 16 starts for a team since Bill Fischer for the Kansas City Athletics in 1962

Can anyone direct me to reliable game streams that won't throw Flash scareware at me? I have mlb.tv for everything but Barves and Reds, but Atl. is actually kind of interesting to watch these days. My ilxmail works if you don't want to post here.

look into VPNs, which reroute your IP so that it appears that you're browsing from a different city/country. there are inexpensive VPNs and free ones as well, depending on how much you want to trust yet another company with your data.

Yeah, I need to finally figure out this VPN stuff.

honestly, it is a slight pain in the ass to set up, but not as much as a pain in the ass as you think it might be! guess the relative pain depends on which VPN you go with.

but push through, and maybe you too will finally be able to use your expensive mlb.tv account to watch games in your own area.

so fucking ridiculous

Do you recommend a particular VPN?

the free ones are annoying af.

i'm using private internet access, which is $7 a month. but there are probably free ones that would also do the trick - maybe there's one that's not annoying af? possibly not.

anthony rendon has 9 rbi today

in five innings

thankfully no one is a fan of counting RBIs in these parts, but still: Harper breaks the record for RBIs in the month of April with 32.

23-5 Nationals, my god. Ryan Zimmerman turning back the clock...to 1948 and he's Stan Musial.

it's still a feat!

6 hits, 3 HRs, and 10 RBIs for Rendon today.

and 99 points on fanduel, holy shit

i could be reading it wrong, but i think his season wRC+ win from 59 to 107 today

went

one of the worst home plate calls i've seen in a while in this cubs/red sox game

Texas Rangers claimed SS Pete Kozma off waivers from New York Yankees.

Koz!

Buxton not a bust watch: best defensive player in the league (with a spectacular margin), over his last 5 games he walked 7 times and struck out only twice! hitting .308 (4 singles). Slowly coming together.

A brief list of players you can vote for:

Ian Desmond (5 at-bats)
Luis Valbuena (injured all season)
Matt Duffy (out indefinitely)
J.D. Martinez (out indefinitely)
Jurickson Profar (in minors)
Colby Rasmus (has neckbeard, is injured)

http://www.sbnation.com/2017/5/1/15506834/2017-mlb-all-star-game-ballot

colby rasmus, i always forget that guy exists

http://horrornews.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/The_Burbs_fim_2.jpg

this was a fucking blast

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/lets-admire-marcell-ozuna-homer

One tic I'll never understand is when an infielder commits a fielding error, scoops up the ball, and aggravation-chucks it AT the pitcher (reasonable behavior only when the target is either Lackey or Papelbon).

what a moment for matt albers, i guess

That Ozuna blast looked like it was still rising when it hit the banner. That's a heck of a shot.

4 walks for kershaw tonight. he hasn't looked quite right this year

Orioles have consistently looked incredibly rickety for a team with a .655 record. Sort of surprised they managed to hold on tonight.

altuve is an unfathomably bad baserunner

Cubs and Yankees heading to the 17th tied 4-4, the teams have combined for 43(!) strikeouts which appears to have tied the MLB record for a game.

Cubs 22, Yankees 21

44 Ks now

48

arrieta might be bad now :(

shwarber guns a guy out at the plate and then misplays a routine pop fly with 2 outs to score 3 runs. trick or treat kyle

Arrieta's xfip is pretty solid despite the HR, I think he'll adjust well. Obviously won't be peak Arrieta, but very good.

pitchers' duel ... between kyle hendricks and german marquez ... in colorado?

fun fact: the trump lawyer claiming his tax returns show no income from russia "with few exceptions" works at rob manfred's former firm

The Average Sports Fan
The projected standing for the rest of the year have Giants at 2 games over .500 and the Reds at 16 games under .500. Which of these do you have more confidence in?

Jeff Sullivan
I think that about captures the Giants, and now I think the Reds will be a little better than that

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/if-the-ball-isnt-juiced-then-what-explains-the-homer-surge/

Are there any other famously low draft picks besides Piazza to have a HOF (or near-HOF) career? I notice the Dodgers didn't pick Goldschmidt until the 49th round, and he's definitely on a HOF track.

Keith Hernandez (42nd round)

Others here: https://www.si.com/mlb/strike-zone/2014/06/09/mike-piazza-keith-hernandez-albert-pujols-late-round-draft-picks

Forgot about that piece...So Goldschmidt's DROP is already at 1504 (49th round x 30.7 bWAR) before the age of 30, good for 6th place on the list. To move past Hernandez for 2nd place, he'd need a career WAR of around 52--well within reach. To catch Piazza, though, he'd need a career WAR up around 76--very doubtful.

goody would have a lot of work to do to make the hall. he's definitely a longshot

goldy*

has anyone seen the new baseball savant radial charts? maybe they've been out a while, but they've updated it in very useful ways, i think. here's one for aledmys diaz so far this year:

https://cdn0.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/cm9OiE7dVEqs4zg2BkbERN13tLA=/1600x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn0.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/8525035/aled1.png

bizarrely, i came across the radial chart on this post - http://www.vivaelbirdos.com/st-louis-cardinals-sabermetrics-analysis/2017/5/16/15645588/cardinals-statcast-contact-quality-aledmys-diaz - and can't find any mention of radial charts anywhere on baseball savant or elsewhere on the internet

ok, found it. the way to access it is really, really dumb.

1. start at https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/statcast_search
2. Switch the "Player Type" on the left to "Batter"
3. Type in the name of the batter under "Players" on the right
4. Search
5. On the search results page, click "Graphs", then "Radial Chart"

Weird of them to bury one of their very best features.

anyway, descriptions of each of the categories and much more:

http://tangotiger.com/index.php/site/article/statcast-lab-radial-woba-by-launch-anglespeed

http://i.imgur.com/msAp64D.png

when nothing but the truest outcomes will do

http://i.imgur.com/2RDKg9P.png

a lot of that is teams exploiting new 10-day DL rules right

depends on your definition of "exploiting" i guess

i think it's mostly genuine injuries but it's a lot easier to pull the trigger now than it was a year ago, even if you know the guy doesn't need the full 10

i don't know how much of the increase is attributable to the 10-game DL but i'd guess it's significant

yeah there's no plausible reason for a league wide increase in injury risk i can think of so the answer is just variance + new DL rules

the mets tho

not the leaders by the measures i've seen

@AnthonyDiComo
Curtis Granderson on Wednesday became the third player to appear in 500 games for two NY teams. The others: Bill Dahlen, Wee Willie Keeler.

The Cardinals traded first baseman Matt Adams to the Braves for Minor League infielder Juan Yepez, the teams announced Saturday. Atlanta also received cash considerations in the deal.

Yepez is a 19-year-old prospect who signed with the Braves out of Venezuela in 2014. In 36 games for Class A Rome this season, his third in the Minors, Yepez was hitting .275/.309/.387 over 142 at-bats with a home run, 13 doubles and 15 RBIs.

also included in the deal is the entire cardinals broadcasting team. they all believe that matt adams has the potential to be a big time slugger, against all evidence, because he is a big man with big arms.

Chad Pinder's 483-ft HR is the longest by an Athletics player since ESPN began tracking HR in 2009.

i was watching he murdered this ball

luis robert going to the ChiSox, it seems

there is a stunned bird in the broadcaster's booth in the reds-rockies game

Kershaw is ridiculous.

3K in the 8th inning

lol btw

I read all the launch angle articles, but it's hard for me to believe all these major leaguers just figured out hitting home runs is good

— Sam Miller (@SamMillerBB) May 24, 2017

Bert Blyleven: 28 years, 97 days (July 12, 1979)
Sam McDowell: 28 years, 228 days (May 7, 1971)
Walter Johnson: 28 years, 234 days (June 28, 1916)
Felix Hernandez: 29 years, 32 days (May 10, 2015)
Nolan Ryan: 29 years, 213 days (August 31, 1976)
Sandy Koufax: 29 years, 241 days (August 28, 1965)
Don Drysdale: 29 years, 320 days (June 8, 1966)
Bob Feller: 29 years, 335 days (October 3, 1948)

sometime over the next 2 games he's gonna slot himself in at fifth youngest to reach 2000 Ks. and then he'll become felix and fall off the face of the earth

how dare you

you guys still watching this game?

you see what matheny is doing? leaving Lynn in at 118 pitches against Forsythe when he has two guys ready in the pen?

it is pure madness every game

yep i lol'd

he got away with it

the luck o' matheny

idiotic process, good results
he never learns, he will never learn

There is a few things in life that are as good as KM dissing Matheny.

Matheny planned that wild pitch. The cardinal way.

our god is a mighty god!

holy shit

a fowler HR there woulda been full-on tragedy

Dodgers Stadium's PA playing Kendrick's 'Alright' lol.

this is where the Rosenthal-for-the-nonsave joke never gets old

I didn't realize how bad Puig's season was.

said this in the other thread but carpenter has had a crazy season. swing rate of 34%

yikes

pederson and puig both down

uhhhh

looks like puig broke a rib? not sure about pederson

that was ugly.

Puig went down like a guy in a war movie

btw as that K chart above goes, i will remind you Bob Feller missed four seasons in the Big War, as he would if he wasn't dead.

puig's seriously keeping himself in the game

man, who is up for some 13th inning west coast action?!?!?!

lol not i

went to bed in 11th

Watch your baseball highlights tonight, Billy Hamilton scored from first on a low liner single to left to score winning run against Cleveland. It's a pretty amazing play.

The Padres and Pirates have sure had a different time when it comes to filling their holes at first base.

http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2017/5/26/15696016/mlb-stats-pirates-padres-first-basemen

generations of soldiers died protecting our country and its freedoms- don't forget to buy an official baseball hat to say thank you

— Brandon McCarthy (@BMcCarthy32) May 29, 2017

Astros were 0-659 in franchise history, going back to 1962, when entering the eighth down by six runs, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

— Rhett Bollinger (@RhettBollinger) May 29, 2017

On a long enough time line, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

springer just hit one 473 feet

apparently springer went to uconn while i was there. i had no idea the team had such a legit prospect

btw here's some votto for you (why don't you just marry him)

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/dictating-the-action-with-joey-votto

^_^

we really don't deserve votto

"Pujols is retarded" 😂😂 pic.twitter.com/MjRKPTnYAh

— BLACK SKIP BAYLESS (@BlackSBayless) May 30, 2017

??

announcer meant to say "retired", obv

http://deadspin.com/the-voice-of-this-reds-fan-yelling-joey-vottos-name-wil-1772359418

well this is embarrassing. someone filmed me at a reds game last year

managerial hot-seat ranking by Heyman

https://www.fanragsports.com/mlb/heyman-hot-seat-isnt-hot-14-names-consider/

14. Mike Matheny, Cardinals.

This is only really a thought of stat guys on the internet and bunt haters everywhere.

RONG

stopped hate-reading heyman about 8 years ago

Milestone counting stats (are there any other kind?) for my two favourite players: 2,000th K for Kershaw, 1,000th extra-base hit for Cabrera.

this mets-pirates game is a disaster for everyone involved

what is happening to jason vargas?

this Dodgers/Brewers game is kind of incredible, it's 1-1 in extras and everyone is striking out trying to hit a 600 ft homer

Brewers have struck out 24 times in 11 innings, lol

Astros are relentless.

what is happening to jason vargas?

if you look at his peripherals, less than you'd think?

we appear to be reaching the end of bartolo :

Bartolo bobblehead day is this Friday, or I imagine he'd already be gone.

on a much less significant note, we may be reaching the end of jhonny peralta as well. among players with 50 or more plate appearances, he's the only one with 0 extra-base hits and 0 RBIs. when kolten wong returns from the DL he may be on his way out

yeah he turned into bosko balaban pretty fast

scooter gennett coming up to the plate with chance for 4 HRs

holy shit

4 HRs

scooter gennett

is that 10 RBIs?

i'm naming my kid 'Scooter'.

aw, gee whiz, scooter, that was our last baseball!

Gennett is owned in 2.2 percent of ESPN standard leagues

he started the game with 3 HRs and 20 RBIs on the season
a few hours later, he has 7 HRs and 30 RBIs

9.5% of his career homers tonight, according to someone on the Cubs game.

i guess he's a hometown cincinnati guy too. that's pretty cool for him

lou gehrig
chuck klein
pat seerey
gil hodges
joe adcock
rocky colavito
willie mays
mike schmidt
bob horner
mark whiten
mike cameron
shawn green
carlos delgado
josh hamilton
scooter gennett

(i left off bobby lowe and ed delahanty because 1800s)

mark whiten was a beast

scooter !

@JeffPassan
Only five other players have had games with at least 17 total bases. None of them had double-digit RBIs. Nor any as cool a name as Scooter.

https://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/muppet/images/6/61/Scooter_photo.jpg

scherzer has a very scherzer-like 9Ks and 1 run through 3 innings

love scherzer

came to say that he is at 11 K in 3 and 2/3 IP pitches and holy crap.

came to say that he is at 11 K in 3 and 2/3 IP pitches and holy crap.

wrc+ of scooter went from 97 to 136 lol

12 K through 5 for Scherzer--80 pitches, though.

via Joe Sheehan:

Fewest Career HR at Time of Four-Homer Game (1901-2017)

Scooter Gennett, 38
Mark Whiten, 38
Gil Hodges, 54
Joe Adcock, 64
Pat Seerey, 74

Lowest Career SLG at Time of Four-Homer Game (1901-2017)

Mark Whiten, .382
Pat Seerey, .409
Gil Hodges, .421
Scooter Gennett, .422
Mike Cameron, .435

Lowest Career ISO (SLG-BA) at Time of Four-Homer Game (1901-2017)

Mark Whiten, 132
Scooter Gennett, 143
Gil Hodges, 151
Mike Cameron, 183
Pat Seerey, 186

Zack Cozart has overtaken Mike Trout for the @baseball_ref WAR lead

— Mark Simon (@msimonespn) June 7, 2017

things not predicted in April

Volquez goes for a VanderMeer tnite vs Pirates

are you fucking kidding me pic.twitter.com/LtzPxH6hps

— Ali 🇵🇭 (@TheyCallMeYDG) June 9, 2017

https://www.instagram.com/p/BVJGe4_FBvB/

I loved that, Gary and Ron's reactions as well

houston/colorado world series would be p cool

So Tillman just got destroyed by the Yankees. 1.1 IP, 9 runs.

he's broken

http://cdn.fangraphs.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/hr-per-pa.png

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/instagraphs/the-home-run-spike-has-a-home-run-spike/

so far in June, the White Sox have 30 runs, and the Yankees have 26 home runs

— Jeff Sullivan (@based_ball) June 12, 2017

update as necessary

not happy about liking the Yankees now

why would ya?

really sucks that trout is not available for this yanks/angels ESPN game

Dodger pen not acquitting itself well vs Tribe

altuve is so goofy in this commercial lol

When I turned 6 in January 1981, 43 players had 300 HR

Curtis Granderson is the 143rd player with 300 HR

— Mark Simon (@msimonespn) June 15, 2017

yet the 500 and 600+ HR club is still pretty exceptional: https://www.sbnation.com/2017/6/3/15719452/albert-pujols-600-home-runs

granderson being 36 makes me feel super old, he's one of the first players i can remember debuting

<3 crutis

yet the 500 and 600+ HR club is still pretty exceptional

relatively so; but when I became a fan the 600 HR club was

Ruth
Mays
Aaron

http://umpbump.com/press/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/curtis-granderson1.jpg

Memories...

grandy's 2007 season still kinda blows my mind, that stat line is pretty ridic. i feel like fans slept on him a bit bc everyone was hyping up that other young CFer in his division at the time, what's his name. sizemore. jeez, sizemore is still only 34. that's depressing.

grady looked like a HOFer going through his peak for a few years

grandy was second to (juicer!) a-rod in bWAR in 2007

grady still looks like a HOFer to morbs amirite

wd have to see current selfie

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/images/players/head_shot/429713.jpg

this is just depressing

the Eric Thames walk off interview is everything I could've hoped for

altuve makes an out on the base paths alert

always hilarious when umps get to toss out people reacting directly to their shitty strike zones

so this bellinger fellow

Kind of cool that the Oakland A's have the worst record in the AL and are still only 4 games out of the wild card. Whereas the NL wild card is already looking out of reach to anyone who isn't in the NL west.

think rizzo should have gotten a game off for that 'slide'

look fwd to historic tanking by either ARI or COL

Cubs now 7.5 behind Arizona. I'd give them at least a 40% shot at overtaking them.

who cares when they're only 0.5 behind milwaukee

Yes. Then the question becomes can any of the other Central teams catch ARI or COL.

Corey Seager hit 3 bombs last night and has an OPS over .900. I'm so glad that 2.5 good months of Zack Cozart and a dopey donkey narrative means he will be the All-Star starter.

Verlander: the balls' seams are lower

http://www.mlive.com/tigers/index.ssf/2017/06/dear_commissioner_manfred_just.html

cozart has legit been a beast but seager is the clearly superior player

man, Colorado just coughed up 9 runs to the Dbacks in the 4th at Coors and it's ugggly... and not over

um, kenley jansen has a 50/0 strikeout to walk on the season

Jamie McCourt, who along with her then-husband Frank were forced by Major League Baseball to sell the Dodgers after the team faced bankruptcy, has been nominated as the ambassador to Belgium by President Donald Trump.

darvish v tanaka tonight, first matchup in mlb

The good news is that I just filed a story where Joey Votto called himself "the Canadian Ichiro"

— C. Trent Rosecrans (@ctrent) June 22, 2017

Ichiro is much a bigger star in Japan than Votto is in Canada, no?

Which pitchers allow the least amount of hard-hit contact?

1. Wood
2. McCullers
3. @BMcCarthy32
9. Chatwood
22. J. Montgomery

50 best-- pic.twitter.com/R1OwVajTLH

— Mark Simon (@msimonespn) June 26, 2017

With a sample size in the hundreds of thousands, I found that the balls are juiced and driving the HR surge. https://t.co/2jJTWXbm1V pic.twitter.com/byURUSJjB9

— Rob Arthur (@No_Little_Plans) June 28, 2017

i'm trying to go to Angel Stadium tonight to watch Kershaw pitch. tix are outrageous thou. getting picked up any min but will probably only end up at a bar.

plz unjuice the balls we need kershaw back

agree, this season is ridiculous

i like 3TOs

is there somewhere i can find teams outcomes per series played this yr? ie swept or lost 1-2, won 2-1 etc

apparently not? https://www.reddit.com/r/baseball/comments/3nj1xz/team_standings_each_year_by_series

unless you're interested in just the sweeps http://mlbsweeps.com

@McCulloughTimes
Benches clear after Dave Roberts charged Andy Green and bumped him.

on no! FITE! oh NO!!

Meanwhile, Mike Foltynewicz has a no hitter through in 6 innings in Oakland.

scott feldman had one going too

10 Ks in 6 innings for jon gray in his first game back from the dl

folty 3 outs away from a no hitter, but could still be walked off with only a 1-0 lead

a 4.87 xfip and 117 pitches.

oh heartbreak.

...good thing the braves got those insurance runs

?????????

If you go to the bottom of Oddibe McDowell's Baseball Reference page, you get an itemization of his utility bills for January 2011 to March 2012.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/mcdowod01.shtml

However you order them, Kershaw, Scherzer, and Sale are the best (more or less) peak big three since...?

Pedro, Johnson, Clemens, and Maddux sync up well for 1997-2000--there was an overload there. Don't know if there's been as good a big three in between.

kershaw is having a down season tho but yeah

i think it's big 4, I'd include Kluber in there.

he's definitely a slight step down from those 3 but i think he's pretty close, and this season he's been pitching out of his mind.

Kluber has been the best pitcher in baseball since coming off the DL

chris archer on the verge of joining that group.

I'd be more inclined to go with Sanchez than Archer--he's got four years on him--but he does have problems staying healthy.

this conversation makes me sad about jose

Kluber has been the best pitcher in baseball since coming off the DL

― black covfefe in bed (voodoo chili), Saturday, July 1, 2017 10:06 PM (thirty-two minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

have you heard of chris sale

Yankees held an intra-squad bed shitting contest and Brett Gardner won.

I'd be more inclined to go with Sanchez than Archer--he's got four years on him--but he does have problems staying healthy.

― clemenza, Saturday, July 1, 2017 10:11 PM (fifty-nine minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Sanchez? Anibal?

lol i had to look through a list of sanchezes before remembering clem's a jays fan

oh yeah, my bad. love aaron. dunno if he'll ever make it with the Klubers and Sales. i sure hope so.

this conversation makes me sad about jose

Yeah, he might have been the best candidate for #4...There's also Syndergaard and Bumgarner, both in limbo like Sanchez. Bumgarner doesn't turn 28 till next month. Strasburg's maybe a candidate too.

James has Kluber #4, almost even with Sale.

http://www.billjamesonline.com/polls_ratings/starting_pitcher_rankings/

Some of those names in the Top 20 I wouldn't consider for a short list of the best four right now; James's rankings are more of a rolling three-year thing.

Here are his #1s during that 1997-2000 window I mentioned:

August 15, 1993 to July 11, 1997 - Greg Maddux
July 12, 1997 to August 24, 1997 - Roger Clemens
August 25, 1997 to June 11, 1998 - Pedro Martinez
June 12, 1998 to August 24, 1998 - Greg Maddux
August 25, 1998 to April 26, 1999 - Roger Clemens
April 27, 1999 to April 30, 1999 - Randy Johnson
May 1, 1999 to July 17, 1999 - Pedro Martinez
July 18, 1999 to June 7, 2000 - Randy Johnson
June 8, 2000 to June 28, 2000 - Pedro Martinez
June 29, 2000 to July 22, 2000 - Randy Johnson
July 23, 2000 to July 28, 2001 - Pedro Martinez

Hey k3vin,

http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=pit&lg=all&qual=y&type=8&season=2017&month=3&season1=2017&ind=0&team=&rost=&age=0&filter=&players=

ah since back from the DL, fair

Kluber has been immortal over his last 6 starts, sheesh.

the tigers and indians both have their lowest OBP guys leading off

joke's on me, tho -- one of them has already walked and scored

scoreless duel thru 6.5 btwn Strasburg and Matz

Judge's babip still the same as Ruth's 1923 season, higher than Sisler's 1920 season.

i think he's legit, but wd still expect that to come down

what daniel murphy is doing to the mets is unholy

auditing the standings

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/19798347/mlb-roundtable-fourth-july-standings-audit

Just about every lead story on mlb.com the past few days has had to do with the "Final Vote" for the All-Star game. Ridiculous overkill.

if it weren't for MLB's manufactured hype it would have literally zero hype

an all-star game is an increasingly tough sell in an era (deepvoiceover "in an era") where you can watch any star player you want, anytime

if i ran the all-star game i'd use it as a testing ground for experimental baseball rules from the mundane (electronic strike zone) to the radical (everyone hits the ball with their dick)

thwack
thwack
thwack

hitting a homerun would finally mean something again

the deadball era as a symbol of sexual frustration, good defense as puritanical lordism

or perhaps there could be other rules, i'm just saying they need to shake things up because the main attraction - see the star players play each other! - lost its novelty with the advent of streaming and interleague play

iirc the main attraction was rooting for your preferred league, which is a thing old people will tell you about

i have heard of old people. either way interleague play de-attracted that as well

did people give a shit about leagues by the time interleague play came around? i always thought it had more to do with curt flood

al hrabosky has taught me that some people still care deeply about leagues

Eckersley is a fucking dreadful presence in the booth who thought he was a good idea

dbax vs dodgers is good

take Rodney out, I can't believe it.

single, 3 walks, now facing Seager.

goddamnit dbacks

Sheesh what a comeback

Interesting. From Mariners PR - Seattle was first MLB team to not strike out in a game this season last night. First time for M's since 2006

— Greg Johns (@GregJohnsMLB) July 7, 2017

houston and the dodgers both over 60 wins at the break, both over +160 run diff

hard to believe in a great baseball town like Miami

http://mlb.nbcsports.com/2017/07/10/there-are-still-all-star-tickets-available-at-face-value/

(srsly, eff All-Star prices)

FanGraphs rates Anthony Rendon THE No. 1 player in NL this year. WAR: 4.1. He's not on a 32-man All-Star team!? https://t.co/Cl8xT2hxAX

— Thomas Boswell (@ThomasBoswellWP) July 11, 2017

fans are dumb
players are dumb
we are all dumb

yadier molina being an all-star is dumb

it's true

lol, just before the first pitch, rosenthal, on-field, asked altuve how he was feeling about having to face scherzer. altuve's just like "yeah i have to face him in 10 second so..." and then started walking toward the plate. whoever thought it was a good idea to interview players on their way to the plate is not a good thinker of ideas

Does Perez always wear that type of catching gear? It looks like he should be fighting with the hawk people in Flash Gordon.

this on-field interview is kind of corny. tho a-rod is doing about as well as he can with the format

I keep seeing 5 hour energy commercials begging everyone to use the #my5hour hashtag. The response on twitter has been about what you'd expect

Ha, Springer is doing an interview while playing CF!

they'll be doing this in the postseason in 10 years prob

Yeah, also kinda seems inevitable that there will be helmet cams on every player

Harper is doing well.

oh no, don't talk about the NFL with Joe Buck.

Stand Up to Cancer and MC's penny-ante figleaf donation makes me sick(er)

surely a third of the US populace have noticed that athletes never say shit

Molina's revenge on mookieproof!

how many of you are watching your first ASG That Doesn't Count, and is it everything you hoped it would be?

ok yadi

Waiting to see cruz' selfie with joe west

NOT A SELFIE

(unless there was an actual selfie i missed)

suspect that was suggested to Cruz by MLB promo dept

THE KIDS THEY LOVE SELFIES

someone plz chloroform Smoltz

had no idea manfred un-counted the asg, thank god

now if only he could make homers count again ;_;

just below karl malone making fun of methany, watching aroldis chapman blowing a save is one of my great pleasures in life.

astros score 10 runs in first 7 innings back

Scherzer, Sale, Kluber, and Bumgarner all starting today--only Kershaw is missing (Alex Wood instead, so pretty damn good).

Astros are unbelievable: on pace for 950+ runs. (The Nationals are still on pace for around 900, which considering the injuries to Eaton, Turner, and Werth isn't bad.)

Dodgers have gone 27-4 in the last 31 games

*calculates winning percentage*
that's good

Shades of Larry Walker/Randy Johnson in the '97 All-Star Game:

http://m.mlb.com/cutfour/2017/07/16/242456808/nelson-cruz-fakes-charging-the-mound-against-derek-holland

this gif has been going around the past couple days, maybe nelson saw it

http://i.imgur.com/TsF3i9f.gif

aww

jackie bradley junior with an insane rob of a ball judge hit 420 feet in the bottom of the 8th. wow.

i would like pedroia a lot if he weren't on the red sox

espn really going flat-out in their efforts to make me hate judge

tbf at least judge is playing actual games and not some ugly kid with a loudmouth dad playing exhibitions

Stankees still clinging to that 2nd WC spot; nine teams within 6 games of them

i appreciate the pirates winning games, but the brewers seem like our best hope to hold off the cubs

LAA vs WAS, tied 1-1 after trout and harper HRs, beautiful

#Nationals 1 @ #Angels 1 [B1-2o]
Mike Trout homers (17): fly ball to LCF (solo)

Exit velocity: 108mph
Distance: 448ft💣
Angle: 26°🚀 pic.twitter.com/2KsQoGuSdV

— Home Run Tracker (@DingerTracker) July 19, 2017

that is a cool account

Pecota was right about the Dodgers, all hail Pecota.

moncada up, finally

the nl central is getting pretty interesting

http://i.imgur.com/UIRufI4.png
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/america-has-spoken-the-yankees-are-the-worst/

2 and 4 make the whole thing moot

about 19% and 28%, respectively, would agree with you!

just being a smartass - i'm also surprised the unfavorables aren't higher. there's a regional breakdown in the article that sheds some light on that though

i'm reading it now, don't understand why the dbacks are so hated?

as someone who once desperately tried to make money on surveymonkey i'm not sure how reliable this sample is

who are these handful of people whose most-hated teams are the padres or the mariners

brandon mccarthy is one of a few guys i genuinely root for no matter where he is -- even with the yankees -- and he's been a perfectly fine and occasionally good pitcher on the rare occasions he isn't hurt. but it seems like whenever i actually watch him pitch, he gets shelled. maybe it's my fault

who are these handful of people whose most-hated teams are the padres or the mariners

mariners and padres fans

pete kozma dfa'd by the rangers

he was .111/.200/.178 through 51 PAs with the yankees/rangers

crooked numbers at wrigley

eleven straight have reached, i think

Been watching, amazing. If Rizzo doesn't make that play, they would have 11 or 12 runs in before making an out.

6 walks and a wild pitch so far

saw this stat the other day, seemed like clemenza-bait: name the three active players with a career .300/.400/.500 slash line

(non-rookies)

votto, goldy, miggy?

trout, miggy is close in OBP though

mookie's also close

Bait taken...Would think Pujols is still there, he had built up such a margin of error. If Trout's the second, then...Posey or Arenado or Braun, I'm guessing.

I can't tell if Goldschmidt's been ruled out or not--if not, I'd guess him and Pujols.

Goldy's BA is a smudge too low

it's trout, goldschmidt, and votto. i was a bit surprised that miggy and pujols ha dropped below that threshold -- if pujols plays out the rest of his contract (and he can't, right?), his career OBP might end up below .340

xp - oh wow, just checked goldy's stats and i hadn't realized he's sitting at right around .300

He had a recent slump that brought him to .300 even

trout should have been obvious, but i'm not sure who i'd have replaced with him

certainly goldy is the most ridiculously underpaid of any of them

mookie's also close

― qualx, Saturday, July 22, 2017 1:37 PM (twenty-three minutes ago)

mookie's OBP is .355!

Arenado was a terrible guess by me--didn't realize he walked so infrequently.

mookie's OBP is .355!

― k3vin k., Saturday, July 22, 2017 2:02 PM (forty-nine minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

oh lol, my brain looked at his line and decided it counted

i think everyone likes mookie, we just round up to .4

depressing, Albert's OBP was .420 when he arrived in Anaheim, now it's down to .386 because w/Anaheim he's rocked a .321(!) line.

im certain Harper will be .300/.400/.500 soon enough

Eventually, maybe, but not soon (depending upon how you define soon). He's got 14 points to make up--what he'd have to hit in 1,000-AB increments to reach .300 for his career:

Next 1,000 AB - .338
Next 2,000 AB - .319
Next 3,000 AB - .313
Next 4,000 AB - .310
Next 5,000 AB - .308

OBP should be easier, and he's already 20 points above in SLG.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DFcZ5AnXkAMWQ8H.jpg

i guess rick renteria doesn't have much confidence in his bullpen

mentioned it in the cubs thread but wanted to reiterate how weird carlos rodon's start was, 4 IP, 11 K, 10 baserunners

he also got a hit and the only 2 CWS RBIs of the game

apparently no one else has ever gotten 11 Ks in 4 IP or less

apparently no one else has ever gotten 11 Ks in 4 IP or less

not sure about that

According to the great @baseball_ref Carlos Rodon's become 1st pitcher to strike out 11 or more batters in a game where he last 4 IP or less pic.twitter.com/p0f8hrRgkk

— Mike Garrigan (@MikeGarrigan23) July 25, 2017

his description makes it sound like it's restricted to just games where the pitcher didn't go past the 4th inning.

i mean still

Yeah, totally. Sounds like a wild game! Carlos Martinez had a kind of similar game earlier this year where he was either striking out or walking everybody

Call helps #Cardinals
Ball 1 should be strike 3
Bot 9 McGee vs Bader
4% call same
4.4in from edge pic.twitter.com/A0Q807maOb

— Cards Strike Zone (@CardinalsUmp) July 26, 2017

are there twitter bots like this for every team? it only has 915 followers and doesn't link to other team accounts, so i'm guessing not. this is a very handy bot that almost instantly tweets out the info above whenever the ump blows a call in either direction

yeah there's one for every team iirc

there's a pirates one too, so i suppose there are probably 28 more

weird that they don't link to each other or their maker

I have seen the mets one too

Royals now in 2nd WC spot

wow

the dodgers have 70 wins

on how many previous triple plays has a run scored?

pulling hard for the Royals right now

on how many previous triple plays has a run scored?

six

NYY - Today
SEA - 5/27/06
KCR - 6/3/77
SDP - 6/13/73
BAL - 9/10/64
BAL - 6/23/54
CHC - 4/30/37

— Seth Davis (@TheSethDavis) July 26, 2017

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1mfjUVrIhBv6HeltZXYZNPFs_VKopDF_unaZ883QPQr0/edit#gid=1613289983

nice

and I am reminded I was in attendance for the last unassisted TP to date (Eric Bruntlett)

don't make me tell my mickey morandini story

hey mookie can you tell the mickey morandini story

someday, perhaps

Rondon just plunked Moustakas Chaos and Duff-Man is down for whatever ("Oh yeah").

Romine in to pitch.

at least no one let alex gordon get a hit

if i have to look at eric hosmer's face in the playoffs i'm just gonna sit this one out

In the Texas vs Miami game, the Marlins scored 22 runs on exactly 22 hits, and the Rangers scored 10 runs on exactly 10 hits.

And beltre moved the on deck circle! Haha

http://cdn.elitesportsny.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/USATSI_10181159-640x427.jpg

lmao

hero

MICHAEL BLAZEK PITCHING FOR MILWAUKEE
Scherzer walked.
Goodwin homered to right, Scherzer scored.
Difo homered to right center.
Harper homered to center.
Zimmerman homered to left center.

Murphy flied out to center.
Rendon homered to left.
Peralta relieved Blazek.

blazek just went from 13 career HR allowed (in 114.1 IP) to 19.

first starter in mlb history to allow six homers in less than three innings, apparently

The Giants have hit four home runs since the All-Star Break.

— Chelsea Janes (@chelsea_janes) July 27, 2017

lol

nats have 3 doubles and 7 HR now

Washington - Bottom of 3rd

MICHAEL BLAZEK PITCHING FOR MILWAUKEE

Scherzer walked. 0 2
Goodwin homered to right, Scherzer scored. 0 4
Difo homered to right center. 0 5
Harper homered to center. 0 6
Zimmerman homered to left center. 0 7
Murphy flied out to center. 0 7
Rendon homered to left. 0 8

Peralta relieved Blazek.

Lind singled to center. 0 8
Lind stole second. 0 8
Lobatón doubled to deep right center, Lind scored. 0 9
Scherzer reached on infield single to shortstop, Lobatón to third. 0 9
Goodwin lined into double play, third to first, Scherzer doubled off first. 0 9

David Ross is at the game tonight, you guys.

TS: David Ross vs Marlins Man

Lind was stealing bases with an 8-run lead?!

uh oh unwritten rules

it's one that i more or less get tho.

waived at Coors?

Reginald Denton III
Did you see what happened in the 9th in the Yankees/Rays game last night? When the game should've ended but didn't? Have you ever seen anything like that before?

Jeff Sullivan
For anyone who missed it: http://m.mlb.com/news/article/244914920/routine-grounder-gets-by-rays-...

Have to think it comes down to a lack of playing experience with Hechavarria and Beckham. Just miscommunication at a horrible time. Can't recall seeing something exactly like that in exactly that situation.
Really painful misplay, given the playoff stakes.

yea i happen to be watching that, strange play

clev W8
kc W9

doyers win %age rn = .699

duda!

wow end of sox/royals

omg, Edwin Jackson sighting in DC. 12th team?

gulls in Oakland acting in Hitchcockian fashion in 12th inning

Wild finish in Boston.

ervin santana, five complete games

AL WC race getting p good for those of us rooting for a 7-way tie

javy baez with a sick inside the parker

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0fX9ulzoVo

Plus you get paid a few million dollars.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DGthzaHWAAADBgv.jpg

Good numbers for Votto but he really needs to bring that BB% down

marty brennaman can't be happy with only 81 RBI

There should be a built-in adjustment for Bob Dylan writing a song about you, though.

i'm watching the mlb.com video recap of the cubs/giants game last night and this is how the narrator starts the video: "the mighty metallica performing the national anthem, and at the top of the second, javier baez would be a harvester of sorrow for matt moore"

apropos of nothing, it already seems really weird that this was a legal baseball move:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ow0m1f_sT4c

Dodgers on a 44-7 run, when I first saw that in the scroll I thought it was a typo, "surely that's 44-17"

since we like that kinda extrapolation around here, times 3 that's 153 games where their record is 132-21

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0fX9ulzoVo

Plus you get paid a few million dollars.

― clemenza, Tuesday, August 8, 2017 9:52 AM (ten hours ago)

this is great

re Daulton bowl-over: WHEN MEN WERE MEN

Hey, the Mets can still beat mortal teams

Sale and Kluber both had Game Scores of 90+ tonight (95 for Sale).

i'm glad Kluber wasn't pitching this well in Game 7 last year

Pretty crazy catch tonight by Billy Hamilton.

Your updated standings:
Joey Gallo HR: 32
Joey Gallo 1B: 20

In August:
Gallo HR: 7
Gallo 1B: 2

— Andrew Simon (@AndrewSimonMLB) August 9, 2017

Not a for-real race, but the starting-pitcher rankings on Bill James's site have been great fun to track this summer. After Sale's and Kluber's great starts yesterday:

1. Max Scherzer - 610.4
2. Clayton Kershaw - 607.4
3. Corey Kluber - 600
4. Chris Sale - 596.3

Greinke, in the #5 slot, is 50 points behind Sale. Depending upon the next starts from Kluber and Sale, you could have four pitchers at 600+ ("a historic level").

all while mlb is hitting a record number of home runs. tho, i really have no idea how this ranking score here works, so i'd have to agree with the quotes around "a historic level".

If you're interested:

http://www.billjamesonline.com/the_worlds_1_starting_pitcher/

Short version: it's based on Game Scores, starts are weighted by how recent they are, post-season counts, and injury time deducts from your rating.

CamdenWarehouse: Is it too early to talk about the offseason? Which manager and GM spots do you think will be vacant at the end of the year?

Dave Cameron: Hard to see Terry Collins coming back next year. I think Matheny is probably done in STL too.
In terms of GMs, the Marlins front office probably gets an overhaul once the sale gets done. And maybe things blow up with Duquette in Baltimore.
But everyone else seems pretty safe.

matheny will be back

Powered by Jay Bruce: Why do you think Matheny is out? He still seems to have the support of ownership.

Dave Cameron: He’s not good at strategy or tactics, and now the franchise player is openly wishing for someone else to be in charge. It’s a problem.

i'd like to have a good chat with cameron about that, but man i hope he's right

it's worth noting that the reason franchise player yadier molina got mad on instagram was that matheny gave him a day off so that carson kelly, the #1 ranked catcher prospect, could get some time in catching luke weaver, a pitcher he knows really well from the minors. yadi's on pace to once again lead the league in games/innings caught, while carson kelly is going to be stuck behind molina until 2020, unless he gets traded or molina gets severely injured. yadi's whining about that was the dumbest thing i've ever seen him do, but apparently it worked. molina manages matheny, not the other way around, so i don't know how inserting a different manager into the equation would make things better from molina's perspective

as far as not being good at strategy or tactics, that's always been the case with matheny and he has been rewarded with multi-year contract extensions for it, including one the day after the cubs won the world series

that last is certainly true, and the rest you know far better than me

i'm in a fight with yadi but he doesn't know it yet

i know it's dumb but can we talk about the nickname uniforms

https://pbs.twimg.com/card_img/895332015536455681/4lz7vSGg?format=jpg&name=600x314

the best are the guys who don't have nicknames. like jon lester's still says LESTER on it. koji uehara's nickname is just his first name.

Would pull a Sale.

the 2017-18 hot stove is going to be pretty boring

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2017/08/2017-18-mlb-free-agent-power-rankings-5.html

FA wise, at least. maybe that means there will be some crazy trades

verlander's been pretty good lately

a really cute cat (the rally cat) just ran onto the field during the KC/STL game and delayed the game, then bit the shit out of the grounds crewman's arms and hands as he carried it off, and then yadi hit a grand slam on the very next pitch to put them ahead. whadda game!

also i guess me and yadi are friends again because he hit the ball hard

kolten wong just slapped the umpire's butt

you all are missing a great game

Bartolo's dealing in Minnesota, insane

Meowlina! Yadi, stray catapult Cards

You gotta be kitten me! After a wayward feline was removed from the field, Yadier Molina hit a go-ahead grand slam.

https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--SQWRYMj2--/c_fit,fl_progressive,q_80,w_470/kfr8igkkxkocqyxggptd.jpg

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DG42lSSXcAAXNeb.jpg

extra incentive to root against the cardinals just so this doesn't become a Thing for years to come

Starting to think Stanton has an outside shot at 60 (39th tonight).

I won't keep posting about this, but one more (see above for explanation). Depending upon what Sale or Kluber does next start, you may not see this for a long time:

1. Max Scherzer - 612.7
2. Clayton Kershaw - 606.1
3. Chris Sale - 601.1
4. Corey Kluber - 600.7

i guess i'm not that excited about that metric because 600.0 is just a big round arbitrary metric. it's even more arbitrary than something like 300 wins or 500 HRs or 3000 hits because if bill james wanted to he could adjust a couple variables and scherzer would be at 602 right now while kluber would be at 587. but i understand what you're getting at, which is that it's very rare to have this many pitchers pitching at this high of a level for a sustained amount of time, all at once. that's pretty cool.

btw I am trying to find an article Jeff Sullivan/EW podcast referred to a couple weeks ago, on the likely playoff teams being uniquely dominant/strong this year. Anyone seen it?

(xpost) Definitely a number that exists in a vacuum, with no connection to actual events on the field. I just use it as a measure of relative strength, which in this case I think amounts to the four strongest starters at once since Pedro/Clemens/Johnson/Maddux.

"With no connection to actual events on the field."

Well...you know what I mean.

haha

but yeah, i'm just saying, if kluber was at 598 instead of 600, would it change anything?

He would then be the Fred McGriff of starting pitchers and I'd be calling for Cleveland to trade him immediately.

(The key here, in a way, is the distance between these four and the #5, Greinke--that gives you the truest measure of how they're off on their own planet at the moment.)

the likely playoff teams being uniquely dominant/strong this year

except for AL WC 2

would hesitate to call any of the teams in the NL central dominant in any way

was thinking about starting a poll about this -- NL (with its 2 or 3 massively dominating teams and no one else) vs AL (a whole lotta parity)

you mean, which league would you rather watch (for entertainment value of course) or which one is better, overall?

Didn't mean necessarily ALL of the playoff teams, but that (roughly in order) LAD, HOU, CLE, BOS, WAS, ARI, COL are an objectively strong top 7 by various seasonal metrics.

Given the relative strength of the AL, I'm not sure the Dodgers aren't the only NL team in the top 4.

if harper is healthy, i'd say:

LAD
HOU
WAS

i guess i'm boldly going with the top 3 overall teams by record there

I haven't looked at the Nats' intradivision record, but I would guess their win total is somewhat illusory given the number of times they get to beat up on their 'rivals' in the East.

16-10 against the central division, 17-8 against the west. I'd say they are doing quite good in that regard. they won their series at Dodgers stadium.

i was talking more about dominance by record -- for a majority of the season, until the central became competitive, the only NL teams with a record above .500 were the playoff teams, and the four playoff spots outside the central seem to have been settled by like... the second day of the season. meanwhile there's only been one really dominant team in the AL and they've been faltering lately. boston and cleveland have been separating themselves but their divisions have been much more competitive all year.

lmao at Scooter Gennett calling the radar gun "fake news"

up-to-date run differentials

LAD +208
HOU +152
WAS +123
NYY +112
ARI +110
CLE +108
BOS + 86

Beltre, Machado, and Donaldson, all injured or slumping in the first half, have been great since the break:

Beltre - .339/.368/.548
Machado - .336/.371/.550
Donaldson - .266/.396/.569

Wil Myers becomes the first player since Dee Gordon in 2011 to steal three bases in an inning, and only those two men and Jayson Werth in 2009 have been able to do so in the last 20 seasons, according to ESPN Stats & Info.

https://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2017/8/16/16158926/wil-myers-steals-second-third-home-base-same-inning-first-padre

Padres have been a surprisingly solid .500 team after starting off the season 15-30. Although beating up on the Giants probably helps.

re: Beltre, if he performs at a similar level next season as he has for the past few (including this one), he'd likely pass Pujols in career bWAR (assuming Albert performs at a similar level, too.) 99.5 to 93.0 right now, -1.7 to +2.8 this season for them.

same deal with fWAR (Pujols at 89.8, Beltre at 83.7)

Pujols is signed through 2021, so he might end up dragging his career WAR some more before it's all over
Beltre's signed through 2018. right now it's easy to imagine him hanging for another year or two, but sometimes age catches up all at once

http://i.imgur.com/PLGrSNs.png

jeepers it's too bad there were no signs of a decline when the Angels signed him to that long term deal

jered weaver has retired

lotta jays fans at wrigley today

wind blowing out in pittsburgh i guess

On May 2, Granderson was hitting .122 and was one of the least productive players in baseball. Since then: .267/.386/.579 18 HR 46 RBI.

— Marc Carig (@MarcCarig) August 19, 2017

Odd: Nelson Cruz and Edwin Encarnacion strike me as virtually the same player, yet neither appears on the other's Similarity Score list.

If Trout keeps up his present PA rate, he should qualify for year-end league leaders (I've got him finishing with 520 PA if he plays every game the rest of the way). If Altuve cools, he's got a shot at the slash Triple Crown.

trout hit 2 HR last night. now 3rd on the fWAR leaderboard, behind just judge and altuve. barring another injury, he's a great bet to finish first

and yeah, looks like if he plays all 39 games the angels have left (a good bet since they're the favorite to get the second wild card), he needs just 4 PAs per game to reach 502

the giants have been eliminated from the NL west division race

verlander is good again

ouch, a GRANDYSLAM vs Pirates' Cole

Just a coupla Boogs Powell hanging out on Eutaw Street. pic.twitter.com/nLqsqcBo3x

— Jane Lee (@JaneMLB) August 22, 2017

The Boogs just FaceTimed 12-year-old Boog Powell, a LLWS participant.

— Jane Lee (@JaneMLB) August 22, 2017

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DGqzRl_W0AATFDU.jpg

i bet that was an awesome conversation

Anthony Rizzo played third base for an inning last night, the first lefty to do so since 1997.

surprising that my dad did not inform me of this

I'm thinking Mike Squire's for the White Sox might be the last lefty to start at 3b and Tony LaRussa was managing them.

padres hit 5 cardinals tonight, the 9th time that's happened in MLB history. 8th time was earlier this year when the blue jays hit 5 barves

Zach Britton’s epic save streak came to an end after he converted 60 consecutive save opportunities.

your rolling Adrian Beltre vs Albert Pujols career bWAR watch:

AP - 99.3
AB - 93.6

Pujols' lead went from +6.5 to +5.7 in one week.

Andrew Marchand
ESPN Senior Writer

After the Yankees' Gary Sanchez goes deep in his previous at-bat, Tigers starter Michael Fulmer nails him with a fastball in the hip his next time up in the fifth. The Yankees did not take kindly to this occurrence. CC Sabathia, one of the team's leaders, was standing on the top step of the dugout, yelling at Fulmer.

behold, one of the most confusing headlines/stories i've ever seen, on MLB.com:

'Cruz' notches 100th RBI with 47th HR

i thought whoa, nelson cruz is having a really good season, but i didn't realize he had anywhere close to 47 HRs! but i check fangraphs and sure enough, he has 100 RBIs for the season...and 31 HRs. wait, what? finally click the headline to the article, which reads: "PHILADELPHIA -- The latest moonshot from Giancarlo Stanton (aka "Cruz" for Players Weekend) tore some ivy off the batter's eye in center field at Citizens Bank Park on Thursday and set a record for his hardest-hit homer of the year."

oh

quit fucking with my mind, i've barely slept in 2 weeks!!

miggy plunked, yankee pitcher tossed

actually not even plunked, just thrown behind

Brawl

Awkward day for the Romines.

Kevin Kiermaier show @ the Trop! The Outlaw saves multiple runs with these 2 amazing diving catches in the 5th. #SCtop10 #Rays @SportsCenter pic.twitter.com/5gR5Zi6zLh

— John Sabol (@John_Sabol) August 24, 2017

kiermaier back baby

http://i.imgur.com/hFu7S4c.gif

"C'mon, man -- let's fucking go."

achoo!

achoo!

aaaachoo!!

fuck!

(xposts) I was baffled when I saw that headline too. Six hours later, I'm still baffled--how do you get "Cruz" from Giancarlo Stanton? All I can of is "cruise control," which makes 37% sense.

Full Name: Giancarlo Cruz-Michael Stanton

I thought you were joking--"Cruz-Michael" = "Cruise Missile"--but you're not.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DIGAArDXUAAQqzD.jpg

Did Brett Lawrie actually retire? According to Baseball Reference, yes--they list his "last game." The last mention of him on ILB is his release in the spring. Wikipedia says nothing about retirement.

The single-season HR record since Ruth, with a good punchline:

http://joeposnanski.com/the-curse-of-the-home-run-record/

i'll probably put this at start of a new thread in time

http://m.mlb.com/postseason-schedule

Royals have been shut out in 43 straight innings, the longest such streak since the mound was lowered after 1968. The all-time record is 48 by the 1968 Cubs/1906 A's.

tbf, they were facing austin pruitt tonight

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DIZ1bD-VAAIAHOX.jpg

arizona fall league rosters announced:

http://m.mlb.com/news/article/251247904/arizona-fall-league-2017-rosters-revealed/

chris sale just set the mark for fewest innings to reach 1500 career strikeouts

Sale struck out Pillar, recording his 1,500th career strikeout. He did so in just 1,289.2 innings, making him the pitcher to reach that landmark strikeout total the fastest.

Kerry Wood had the previous record, as he recorded his 1,500th strikeout in 1,303 innings.

hopefully Sale will enjoy a longer post 1500-K career than Wood, who crossed the mark a couple years before he retired

I was at the game tonight--they didn't flash anything on the scoreboard, so I was oblivious to what he'd done. I did get what I wanted, though, now that the Jays are out of it, a great game from Sale. Heading out for the 8th at 100 pitches and with a 3-0 lead, thought there was a tiny chance of a complete game one-hitter. Even if he'd retired the side in order, I suppose they would sent out Kimbrel for the 9th anyway.

wow @ that Keon Broxton catch

IDK where that ranks in the halls of home-run robbing catches but given the situation (9th inning, up by 1, 2 outs, man on first) it's gotta be up there

yeah, also add in a division rival really needing a win, very demoralizing. that was something else

there's a pretty interesting home run crown chase in the AL this season, in that barring a big run by someone else, it looks like it's going to come down to these guys (total HR in parentheses)

Aaron Judge (37)
Joey Gallo (37)
Khris Davis (37)
Mike Moustakas (36)
Justin Smoak (36)
Logan Morrison (35)

weird bunch, i wouldn't have picked any of them other than Davis for top ten before the season.

It feels like Edwin hasn't really gotten hot yet this year, although he is coming off a 10-HR month (otherwise not very good). He hit as many as 16 in a month with the Jays. Longshot, but having great memories of what he was like on a tear, I wouldn't be shocked if he ended up with 45.

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/09/05/sports/baseball/boston-red-sox-stealing-signs-yankees.html

if only it had worked

(nats call up prospect)

Victor Robles will be the first MLB player who was born after The Notorious B.I.G. died.

— Paul Swydan (@Swydan) September 7, 2017

NYY-TBR series moved to Queens

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/20636736/new-york-yankees-tampa-bay-rays-play-citi-field-due-potential-impact-hurricane-irma

almost coulda watched the end at breakfast

http://www.knbr.com/2017/09/12/giants-complete-whimsical-odyssey-finally-sink-dodgers-at-211-a-m/

earliest Opening Day ever (sort of) etc for 2018

http://www.espn.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/82632/from-the-earliest-opening-day-ever-to-the-toughest-road-what-you-need-to-know-about-mlbs-2018-schedule

Worthy of Ball Four:

http://m.mlb.com/cutfour/2017/09/12/253821934/a-praying-mantis-showed-up-in-the-yankees-dugout-so-the-players-built-him-a-habitat

In all likelihood all-time record for most total HRs hit in an @MLB season (current mark is 5,694) will be broken tonight. Plan accordingly.

— Anthony Castrovince (@castrovince) September 19, 2017

Sale probably put the AL Cy Young back up for grabs last night. Wouldn't it be great if he and Kluber faced each other in the next couple of weeks? I think Kluber still has the edge.

looks like the Angels are done

A’s rookie catcher Bruce Maxwell, who earlier in the day profanely bashed President Donald Trump on Instagram, became the first major-league player to kneel during the National Anthem on Saturday before Oakland’s game at the Coliseum.

The product of a military family, Maxwell placed his hand on his heart and faced the flag during the anthem while taking a knee before the game against Texas. Teammate Mark Canha placed his hand on Maxwell’s shoulder.

Saturday morning, Maxwell, who is African American, took a strong stand on Instagram against Trump’s remarks about NFL players who choose to kneel during the National Anthem.

After Trump’s comments urging NFL owners to fire any players who kneel for the anthem, Maxwell posted a tweet from Andrew Steinthal that suggested that all NFL players should kneel for the anthem on Sunday. Below the post, Maxwell added in a comment, "Yeah, f- this guy! Our president speaks of inequality of man because players are protesting the anthem! F- this man! Seriously on the highest platform for our country expressing that it is OK for there to be division of man and rights!"

Maxwell was born in Wiesbaden, Germany, when his father, who also is named Bruce, was stationed there with the Army. The younger Maxwell is highly patriotic - he took great pride in the July 4 uniforms and catcher’s gear he received this year - so his decision to kneel appears to be entirely in opposition to Trumps comments and in solidarity with the NFL players who have taken a knee for the anthem.

Maxwell was not in the lineup Saturday because he is going through the concussion protocol after taking a foul ball off the mask Wednesday at Detroit.

While numerous players and athletes in other sports have joined Colin Kaepernick’s anthem protest over the past year, no big-leaguer had done so before Maxwell. A year ago, Baltimore outfielder Adam Jones, who is African American, told USA Today that no major-leaguers had followed suit "because baseball is a white man’s sport."

The percentage of African Americans on Opening Day rosters this year was 7.1 percent, the lowest since 1958, according to USA Today.

http://www.sfchronicle.com/athletics/article/A-s-Bruce-Maxwell-first-MLB-player-to-kneel-for-12223798.php

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DKc34ckUMAIQXRI.jpg

pic.twitter.com/EHXwg8Zpax

— Oakland A's 🌳🐘⚾️ (@Athletics) September 24, 2017

A year ago, Baltimore outfielder Adam Jones, who is African American, told USA Today that no major-leaguers had followed suit "because baseball is a white man’s sport."

The percentage of African Americans on Opening Day rosters this year was 7.1 percent, the lowest since 1958, according to USA Today.

not just on the field, either. there's a crazy discrepancy in the kinds of baseball-related jobs that white people hold, especially white men, vs everyone else. at the top tier of an organization, like the 150 or so who get a picture in the team's press guide, it's almost entirely white people. same deal with many of the other mid-level job tiers - security, the groundskeeper crew, the tv crew.

Very Proud of @bruu_truu13 taking a Knee and being the 1st Major leaguer 2 do so #Courage #Inclusion #Justice #inequality #FreedomOfSpeech

— LaTroy Hawkins (@LaTroyHawkins32) September 24, 2017

Turns out there is more uncertainty over the NL wild card than in the AL.

altuve had an insane swinging bunt where he apparently got down the line 3.3 seconds, the fastest in the statcast era

Andrelton Simmons is such a defensive monster, cuts off throw and throws behind Correa, then jumps in rundown and fires home to catch Altuve pic.twitter.com/I4RbhTMBIh

— Ozzie (@OzzieStern) September 25, 2017

simmons is a god

it seems really odd to me that with only a week or so left in the regular season, there are only SIX starting pitchers who have 200 IP