OT: Random I feel like talking about baseball thread
Anyone game for some baseball discussion? I'm bored and baseball is on the mind.
some very good players over the years. We are ranked 4th in wins, Not too shabby.
college baseball. (Is that what you were referring to?) If so, has Michigan really been that sweet at baseball?
You didn't want to start that discussion?
about anything baseball related. One thing on my mind. Yankees fans have been bitching to me today that their lineup "sucks" to which I laughed.
Just giving you a hard time. I haven't seen a single game yet this season...sad face.
is my fault. I'm 0-2 this year.
speaking mlb, general question.. can the tribe seriously keep this up??
They've been tremendous Jim, but a 70 win % is pretty damn impossible to keep up. That doesn't mean they'll fall off the table, but they have to come back to earth some time. I still like the Tigers' chances in the division if they can keep the Twins and Sox in the rearview mirror.
The Indians have taken advantage of great pitching, timely hitting and a schedule that has seen them play mostly weak teams so far.
I expect them to regress when the schedule gets tougher.
Ehh I disagree with you. They have played some of the better teams in the AL so far. Teams including the Royals (I know, not the greatest but they are a pretty good team), Red Sox, A's, Angels, and Tigers. All of these teams have pretty good pitching and hitting. I could see your argument if the Indians have been playing the White Sox everyday, but they have been playing some decent teams so far. Plus, it's still early in the year, it is hard to gauge some teams.
I honestly don't understand how they are doing this. What did they even change from last years terrible team?
Sizemore, Hafner and others are back from injury. That's the difference maker so far. I am an Indians fan and I have no doubt that they will cool off a bit. But don't underestimate them too much, the majority of the guys in the lineup and pitchers have played with the Indians for the last 3-4 years or so and feel pretty comfortable with each other.
No. Way. Their pitchers are throwing way over their ability levels, the Cabreras are not nearly as good as they have portrayed this year...and the team resides in CLEVELAND. Enough said.
When you looked at their starters careers coming into the season, I figured it would be amongst the worst rotations in MLB.
I will have to defend them and say they all were "top" prospects when they cleared house in 08 but they weren't projected to hit there peaks until around 2013. the staff is pitching out of there ass but that offense is legit and choo and pronk haven't done anything yet. a few years from now, it might get pretty interesting for the mistake on the lake.
on the top prospect thing because I don't know much about the minors outside of the Tigers system and various 1st round picks that I knew about.
well they were never regarded as elite like andy marte cough cough BUST!! but they were very regarded, usually had 3 or 4 on MLB networks top prospect list but nothing earth shatering like stanton heyward or strausburg. Wilson wasn't suppose to hit majors for a while but I'll take it ( I am an Indians fan sorry, Grew up in Ohio and took one teams from this shit hole of a state)
one of those 4A players it seems.
but Travis Hafner is hitting .350 coming into today. Hafner and Choo have combined for 8 homers and 27 RBI's. I wouldn't call that not doing anything. I do expect Cleveland to come back to Earth at some point, their rotation is not good enough to hold up.
well I think I'm one guy on this earth that still thinks pronk has power in his bat somewhere. yes he is hitting 350, I should have specified that but there isn't a doubt in the world who the best player on the tribe is (choo) and he really hasn't started out that weill from the plate. I will say that he is playing the field really well this year though. So is everyone else. I think the fielding is getting over shadowed by the pitching when in many cases the fielding is saving there asses like in extra innings a few nights ago.
with your assertion that Choo is the Indians best player. If Grady is back to being Grady again, I think he's a little better than Shin-Soo. That being said, they're both pretty awesome.
The division standings are opposite what I thought they'd end up. I had ChiSox, Twins, Tigers, Tribe and KC. Crazy year so far, but Go Tribe!
I'm not worrying whether they can keep it up or not. Sportswise, its been a rough few years for me, so I'm just enjoying every last nook and cranny of this for as long as it lasts.
(and, being a Cleveland team, they'll do well enough for long enough to get me emotionally invested enough to where they reach their eventual dastardly fate, I will be crestfallen, once again)
Or baseball in general? How about them Tigers today?!?! Can't beat a bad team to save their lives but bring on them Yanks...
when I went last week with JV on the hill against Seattle they lost 10-1....
Have you ever thought how amazing it is that 90 feet from home to first is absolutely perfect? Long enough that ground balls to the infield routinely result in an out, but short enough that fielders have to rush and the threat of an occasional infield single keeps things interesting. What's also amazing is that it has remained constant throughout the years. Players have gotten stronger and faster, but ground balls still are almost automatic outs, just like they were 100 years ago.
I have seriously thought about that in my own mind. But I've never said it out loud.
baseball...cue Field of Dreams speach! I played through college and professionally in spain and italy! this sport is my true love. i have backed off in recent years from really studying stats and knowing players and watching all games (even if my Tigers were not playing) so i am not as knowledgable about who is out there and what prospects are doing and projections of who is going to do what! i am taking the less stress way of rooting on my Tigers by not worrying whether they win or lose because i can not affect the outcome. so it is cool to see your post about '90 feet'. think about the major sports and the outlying boundries. each sport from city to city has the same dimensions. baseballs foul territory and outfield fences always change from park to park. baseball is the only major sport where the defense starts with the ball and gives it to the offense willingly. the only sport using a round object (bat) to propel a fairly equally round object. there are so many other unique actions regarding baseball. smell of the grass, pinetar, diving in the dirt, collisions, beautiful displays of athleticism while fielding. i better stop before this gets too long! i believe the Tigers are close, real CLOSE to be being an excellent to dominating team THIS year!
Go Tigers ( i am from Denver and have liked the Rockies and even AAA Denver Bears back in the day) and Rockies!
Holy cow, I thought he was pretty much fading away. St. Louis has an amazing middle of the lineup.
Berkman had a great offseason and lost about 15 pounds of bad weight. He's also hitting in the most favorable position in a lineup in his career, behind 2 of the top OBP guys in the national league and a rising star in Colby Rasmus in the 2 hole. There have been a ton of RBI opportunities.
having a great season so far without even looking at a team dependent stat like RBI's. In fact, I didn't even look at RBI's at all when I said that and still don't even know, as I'm typing this, how many he has.
As a Card's fan whose watched most of this year's games, Berkman's knees are healed which has allowed him to get back in shape. His bat speed is back, his power is back, and his defense could be considered average (which I'll take with an OPS over 1.200). Imagine what will happen when Albert starts hitting like he usually does, although the Card's need to start playing some defense.
is not telling for defensvie purposes (it takes 3 years of defense to equal 1 year of offense), the Cardinals defense so far ranks 11th in MLB at 3.7 runs above the average MLB defense. You shouldn't worry so much about defense. Even last year, the Cards were only 2 runs below average per 150 games. That is hardly anything to be concerned over.
So are we to the point yet where Verlander and Scherzer are 1A and 1B in the rotation? Dating back to his recall from the minors last year, Scherzer has been the best pitcher on the team. I think Verlander is more talented, but Scherzer is more consistently efficient with his pitch count and doesn't seem to have the obligatory one bad inning each time he pitches.
ace quality. You could make a legit argument that Max is better than Justin, if only he went as deep into games (which he is starting to. JV is only 3 or so innings more than Max). Either way, we have two awesome starters.
467 innings. At that point, you have a great reading on what a pitcher is. Max has a career FIP of 3.78 and an xFIP of 3.67. His BAA is .247 and he strikes out better than a batter per inning.
JV is at 3.61 FIP and 3.93 xFPI. His BAA is .241. He strikes out a little less than a batter per inning. Like you said, Verlander has been at it longer (1100+ innings), but an argument can be made that at his current pace, Scherzer is every bit as good.
Speaking of Scherzer, think Arizona regrets that trade?
who all tend to rise and fall at certain ages, pitchers hit peaks and then find new peaks. (I read a lot of fangraphs). Basically, it's impossible to tell how long a pitcher might hold up. But I do think it's safe to say that at this amount of innings, Max is pretty legit.
Arizona should regret that trade. Scherzer is looking good and is consistent. Hopefully he can take some of the pressure off JV and still handle it well.
Another bummer surgery for Joel Zumaya. I think in 20 years we're going to talk to our kids about Zumaya the way our dads talked to us about Mark Fidrych. Sad face.
just went on the DL too this week
That's a good analogy, but the degree to which Fidrych was special isn't even close to Zumaya. Zoom Zoom was a nice story due to his style during the '06 run, but he was nothing more than a set-up man on that team. On the other hand, Fidrych was a starter who was a national sensation. He sold out the stadium when he pitched, he got the Tigers on national TV, and acted legitimately schizophrenic.
Will Jackson and Avila both regress to the mean eventually?
but I still think Avila is gonna be a solid asset even when he regresses to the mean.
And Yes. I'd also throw Maggs in that list; career .310 hitters may drop to .275 in one year, but they don't drop to .160.
Once for a college project I put together a proposal that was 40 some pages with spread sheets and everything reforming professional baseball.
Some of the highlights:
- Contract to 24 major league teams with 28 man rosters instead of 25. (six divisions of four teams each)
- There's a matrix for which 24 cities are chosen based on winning %, attendance, and payroll over a 10 year period. If final cuts fall into the same category in the matrix, the older franchise will be maintained.
- Full salary cap and revenue sharing.
- Creation of a AAAA level, made up of cities losing current MLB teams and teams in markets that have existing franchises in other pro sports. AAAA will have it's own television contract and will be hyped more than ever as "stars of the future". Any player on the 45-man roster (no longer 40) not at the major league level MUST play at AAAA. If a AAAA team out-draws it's MLB parent team for 3 consecutive years, they swap and that city is awarded the major league rights on a probationary status.
I live 4 miles from the "Trop." The Rays would be contracted under your criteria. I would really miss paying $10 to a scapler or $12 at the box office and then sitting in a $40 seat because there are only 7,000 people there and their "fan-friendly" policy allows you to move up into certain sections. I would also miss the echoing of cowbells in a semi-empty stadium.
I would rather see a hard cap with a floor. While there is a certain pleasure in seeing "your" $50 million payroll beat a team with a $250 million payroll, it would be a lot nicer to see a more level playing field.
That sounds like a lot of wrong answers to questions nobody ever asked.
As a mets fan, i'll have what the indians are having. Thanks!