2016's Around Major League Baseball

[TC in Mississippi]

No they keep going on and on about murder. They need some new hobbies.

Well played.

 

[TL1961]

I have no problem with paying for pitching. What was stupid about the Miller trade was even as well as he'd pitched last year he wasn't a #1 starter. And they paid like he was one. Too many teams do this because it's obviously hard to get TOR starters. But I also think teams are often too impatient and will buy at the first sign they are competing. Looking back, the cubs signing Lester was pretty smart for a couple of reasons. For one, he's a proven player. For two he's a lefty and lefty's are even harder to acquire apparently unless you're the freakin White Sox who have like 3 good young lefties. And the third thing is the deal wasn't really that bad. 6 years $155 mil looks cheap after this past offseason. And he obviously fills that role of a vet player and leader the cubs wanted too.

I think in some regards it can be easier to build with pitching because if you get two of say Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling type pitchers, your other 3 starters largely don't matter so long as your top 2 stay healthy. That's harder with hitting because they don't really work alone. If you have the leader in OBP in a given year but the guys behind him can't hit for shit then what's all that really accomplishing? But at the same time, building that way via pitching unless you spend money or get lucky can be very costly and the attrition rate of pitching in he minors can be very scary.

For my money, if I were an owner of a team I'd want to buy the best pitching coach/development team I could get. And then I'd work to acquire talented arms that didn't work out for other teams. I feel like that gap is an area that is under utilized. Not everyone is going to be Jake Arrieta but even a lot of the failed high profile starters of the past few years have turned into dominant bull pen guys.

He pitched like a #1 for six weeks. Maybe TLR loves him from Cards days.

 

[TL1961]

While Cards fans tried initially to pin hackergate on "just an intern", as we know it was a Cards exec that was guilty.

Today he was sentenced to nearly 4 years in prison.

MLB can't pretend this is not a HUGE violation.

 

[A.C. Milan]

Ok, he plays at Coors field but Trevor Story is crushing the ball

 

[DanTown]

I like a lot of the saber numbers. However, I also dislike them to a degree too. They are illogical for some. I'll always take the pitching team over the hitting team. The eye test says pitching wins more than it loses. They are also the only ones that really know where the ball is going so that gives them a leg up.

What are you talking about that pitching wins more than it loses? There is no stat or trend that says teams with better pitching staffs win more than teams with better hitting lineups. The key to winning in any sort of sport is amassing as much elite talent as possible in as many different eras of the sport. So for baseball, that means acquiring the following
- Dominant SP
- Dominant Bullpen arms
- Great hitters with good power, good average, low K's, high BB
- Same hitters are also fast, good defenders, and make the right play

But there becomes a cost to that in terms of dollars and the players you acquire. But there is no "tool" that is "more valuable" than the other. Every team sport is determined by margin.

 

[brett05]

What are you talking about that pitching wins more than it loses? There is no stat or trend that says teams with better pitching staffs win more than teams with better hitting lineups. The key to winning in any sort of sport is amassing as much elite talent as possible in as many different eras of the sport. So for baseball, that means acquiring the following
- Dominant SP
- Dominant Bullpen arms
- Great hitters with good power, good average, low K's, high BB
- Same hitters are also fast, good defenders, and make the right play

But there becomes a cost to that in terms of dollars and the players you acquire. But there is no "tool" that is "more valuable" than the other. Every team sport is determined by margin.

What are you going on about?

Great pitching beats great hitting more times than not. Plenty of examples out there recent and in the past to give this generality some legs.

 

[beckdawg]

What are you going on about?

Great pitching beats great hitting more times than not. Plenty of examples out there recent and in the past to give this generality some legs.

I don't agree with this generalization. I mean in part I think you can argue you are right but not for the reasons your saying. The problem with comparing "great pitching" to "great hitting" is you're not comparing like things. A great pitcher is one individual. Outside of home runs, a great hitter can't score himself and even the best HR hitters ever were still at dozens of plate appearances between home runs. The problem becomes it's often hard for even great hitting teams to all be going well at the same time where as a great pitcher really only relies on himself most of the time and I guess maybe a decent catcher. That means it's easier to execute with pitching because there's less moving parts.

 

[DanTown]

What are you going on about?

Great pitching beats great hitting more times than not. Plenty of examples out there recent and in the past to give this generality some legs.

Again, your opinion is not facts. If great pitching wins over hitting, Clayton Kershaw and David Price wouldn't have terrible ERA's in the playoffs. There is no proven win to win in the playoffs besides "Play well". Having great pitching doesn't help you more than having great hitting does; all that matters is about who preforms better and well enough to win.

 

[brett05]

Again, your opinion is not facts. If great pitching wins over hitting, Clayton Kershaw and David Price wouldn't have terrible ERA's in the playoffs. There is no proven win to win in the playoffs besides "Play well". Having great pitching doesn't help you more than having great hitting does; all that matters is about who preforms better and well enough to win.

No it doesn't. Even the best get beat from time to time but overall pitching wins. Just stop.

 

[Parade_Rain]

Today marks the 23rd anniversary of Ventura getting a lesson in "why you shouldn't charge Nolan Ryan".

 

[CSF77]

Again, your opinion is not facts. If great pitching wins over hitting, Clayton Kershaw and David Price wouldn't have terrible ERA's in the playoffs. There is no proven win to win in the playoffs besides "Play well". Having great pitching doesn't help you more than having great hitting does; all that matters is about who preforms better and well enough to win.

Poor. These guys toss close to 250 inning per. You would expect them to gas

 

[SilenceS]

Holy ****, I may be drunk but did anyone see Stanton's homerun at Coors? Man, I have seen some home runs but that could have the hardest ball hit in history. It went 504 feet on a line drive. No shit, a line effing drive. It was like it was shot out of a .45. I mean I can remember Frank Thomas homers and he was natural. This topped all of them. Holy ****. Sorry Brett, but its the only way to describe it.

 

[SilenceS]

Daren Willman
✔
@darenw

Holy moly... Stanton just hit a HR projected at 504ft... Longest recorded by @statcast. 115.8 MPH, launch angle 18 degrees

 

[Parade_Rain]

Wow. 504 ft and only 18 degree launch angle.

 

[Shawon0Meter]

yup.....wow

[video=youtube;AgO7V0wYtTs]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgO7V0wYtTs[/video]

 

[Shawon0Meter]

Alex Rodriguez and the Yankees are holding a press conference this morning. I wonder if A-Rod will be done immediately...

 

[anotheridiot]

Alex Rodriguez and the Yankees are holding a press conference this morning. I wonder if A-Rod will be done immediately...

I read Friday is his last game, then he moves into the front office as a special advisor. I was expecting him to go, I did not expect the yankees to keep him around. Lately it seemed like they wanted nothing else than to be rid of him.

 

[baselman1974]

I read Friday is his last game, then he moves into the front office as a special advisor. I was expecting him to go, I did not expect the yankees to keep him around. Lately it seemed like they wanted nothing else than to be rid of him.

What can they do. Alex has another year left on his contract for 20+ million guaranteed. At least the Yanks can put him in front office and use his roster spot on a young player. Otherwise Alex will come back next year and delay rebuilding process. Alex got the Yanks over a barrel.

 

[SilenceS]

yup.....wow

[video=youtube;AgO7V0wYtTs]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgO7V0wYtTs[/video]

Stupid stadium got in the way.

 

[beckdawg]

Stupid stadium got in the way.

I've only ever been to coors once while i was on a business trip. He hit that about 15 seats left from batters view(right from where you watch) of where I was that game. Fun side note, some random black dude almost got in a fight with me because he thought I was blowing spit wads at him despite the fact I didn't have a drink or anything in hand.