Random Baseball Musings

[Derwood]

Is there any other sport with writers that display more stubborn ignorance of anything new?

[ctcf]

I have to admit, this Harvey situation is a far more creative Mets'ing of their current success than I dared expect from the Mets.

[ctcf]

Is there any other sport with writers that display more stubborn ignorance of anything new?

 

I can't even imagine how football writers would handle something like the sabermetrics community.

[Guest]

Is there any other sport with writers that display more stubborn ignorance of anything new?

 

I can't even imagine how football writers would handle something like the sabermetrics community.

 

Football people have been far more accepting of weird/'out there" stats in general though. Like who the hell can make sense of passer rating? And it gets cited with regularity by anybody and everyone(not to say anything of how good or bad of a stat it is) and has been for decades.

[ctcf]

Is there any other sport with writers that display more stubborn ignorance of anything new?

 

I can't even imagine how football writers would handle something like the sabermetrics community.

 

Football people have been far more accepting of weird/'out there" stats in general though. Like who the hell can make sense of passer rating? And it gets cited with regularity by anybody and everyone(not to say anything of how good or bad of a stat it is) and has been for decades.

 

I just don't think it's that comparable. Stats just don't play as major a role in football as they do in baseball. I'd even argue that baseball is fairly unique in having such a stats heavy focus. One of the least appealing things about football, at least for me, tends to be how traditionalist so much of the football media tends to skew. It feels like such a meatball heavy sport most of the time.

[Clem Fandango]

I have to admit, this Harvey situation is a far more creative Mets'ing of their current success than I dared expect from the Mets.

 

I'm not seeing what's so controversial about it. Do Mets fans want him to say "Fuckl my innings limit I'll pitch whenever I want" or something? Or do they want him to be shut down and preserve his arm?

 

He seems to be indifferent as to what happens, and the Mets/Boras are going at it with one another, but it seems like Harvey is getting all the heat for not giving a definitive answer that, unless I'm missing something, he doesn't have the authority to give.

[Guest]

I have to admit, this Harvey situation is a far more creative Mets'ing of their current success than I dared expect from the Mets.

 

I'm not seeing what's so controversial about it. Do Mets fans want him to say "[expletive] my innings limit I'll pitch whenever I want" or something? Or do they want him to be shut down and preserve his arm?

 

He seems to be indifferent as to what happens, and the Mets/Boras are going at it with one another, but it seems like Harvey is getting all the heat for not giving a definitive answer that, unless I'm missing something, he doesn't have the authority to give.

 

I think better communication all around is probably not too much to ask. Also, Harvey being a better sport about a 6 man rotation would've been ideal if he was going to be hardline about his total workload for the year.

[Ski]

I have to admit, this Harvey situation is a far more creative Mets'ing of their current success than I dared expect from the Mets.

 

I'm not seeing what's so controversial about it. Do Mets fans want him to say "[expletive] my innings limit I'll pitch whenever I want" or something? Or do they want him to be shut down and preserve his arm?

 

He seems to be indifferent as to what happens, and the Mets/Boras are going at it with one another, but it seems like Harvey is getting all the heat for not giving a definitive answer that, unless I'm missing something, he doesn't have the authority to give.

 

I think better communication all around is probably not too much to ask. Also, Harvey being a better sport about a 6 man rotation would've been ideal if he was going to be hardline about his total workload for the year.

Pretty much this. If Harvey wants to stick to around 180 IP, then he shouldn't have complained when the Mets tried to limit his workload earlier in the season. Sports fans generally don't mind honesty, but hypocrisy is inexcusable.

[Banedon]

I have to admit, this Harvey situation is a far more creative Mets'ing of their current success than I dared expect from the Mets.

 

But really, it appears that it's all Harvey and Boras. Have the Mets themselves done anything especially dumb in this situation that I'm not aware of?

[Clem Fandango]

I have to admit, this Harvey situation is a far more creative Mets'ing of their current success than I dared expect from the Mets.

 

But really, it appears that it's all Harvey and Boras. Have the Mets themselves done anything especially dumb in this situation that I'm not aware of?

 

Well apparently someone on the Mets said "Oh, he's definitely pitching in the playoffs" or something, and then today said they're sticking to a strict innings cap.

 

I know I've had the discussion on here in the past before (I think with Tim) but I still never understand an innings cap. Wouldn't you want to limit pitch counts instead of innings?

 

Also, Olney put out a piece right on the front page of ESPN yesterday that said the Mets should trade Matt Harvey. This overreaction to a miscommunication on an innings limit is absurd.

[Guest]

I have to admit, this Harvey situation is a far more creative Mets'ing of their current success than I dared expect from the Mets.

 

But really, it appears that it's all Harvey and Boras. Have the Mets themselves done anything especially dumb in this situation that I'm not aware of?

 

Well apparently someone on the Mets said "Oh, he's definitely pitching in the playoffs" or something, and then today said they're sticking to a strict innings cap.

 

I know I've had the discussion on here in the past before (I think with Tim) but I still never understand an innings cap. Wouldn't you want to limit pitch counts instead of innings?

 

Also, Olney put out a piece right on the front page of ESPN yesterday that said the Mets should trade Matt Harvey. This overreaction to a miscommunication on an innings limit is absurd.

I've had various conversations - were you here around when Washington did that to Strasburg?

 

Also, if the Mets want to give up Harvey for pennies on the dollar because of this, I'd be happy to send something like Almora and Vogelbach.

[TruffleShuffle]

i'm pretty sure that somewhere in the area of 28 major league teams would put together a better offer than that, if the mets decided to trade away harvey.

[Cubswin11]

This whole Harvey thing got me thinking, are they gonna have Arrieta skip a start or 2 down the stretch or keep him to lower pitch counts?

[Clem Fandango]

I've had various conversations - were you here around when Washington did that to Strasburg?

 

I think that's the conversation you and I had, because that sounds very familiar.

 

EDIT: Just looked it up and yes, we had a very brief interaction about it where you explained studies showed that increase in innings has lead to more injuries vs. pitch counts. I posed the same question I did above, basically, you responded with the answer. I said I didn't know that and thanked you for the info. Very brief.

[TruffleShuffle]

http://sportsmockery.com/2015/09/photos-cardinals-pitcher-carlos-villanueva-has-something-on-his-pants-maybe-poop/

[Sammy Sofa]

Fudge.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

http://sportsmockery.com/2015/09/photos-cardinals-pitcher-carlos-villanueva-has-something-on-his-pants-maybe-poop/

I noticed that live. I was afraid to rewind it and take a closer look.

[Banedon]

The MLB should adopt the NBA's new seeding policy

[jersey cubs fan]

The MLB should adopt the NBA's new seeding policy

 

I hate the freaking stupidity that is at the very heart of every one of these stories:

Very little about that convoluted setup made sense.

 

Actually, it's not the least bit convoluted and it makes lots of sense. Taking these dumbass, my god that team has more wins than a team in another division it's not fair that something so arcane as geography plays a role in the standings, stances make these people look so freaking clueless about how the business of sports work.

[Guest]

The MLB should adopt the NBA's new seeding policy

Better even out the schedules then.

 

Is some region-centric scheduling still sensible in the MLB though where games are played nearly every day (though West teams see less of a benefit from this).

[Guest]

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/hitters-quit-chopping-wood-dont-go-for-backspin/

 

Around little-league parks, and even on the back fields of certain schools and organizations, you might hear a common refrain from the batting cages. “Chop wood, chop wood,” is how Bryce Harper mimics the coaches he’s heard before. The idea is that a quick, direct path to the baseball — like an ax chop — is the best way to get quickly to the ball and create the backspin that fuels the power.

 

Turns out, pretty much all of that is wrong.

 

Where do you start with a thing like this? Let’s start first with the idea that backspin is something hitters should be focusing on. It isn’t.

 

“It works in batting practice,” laughed Evan Gattis when we talked about backspin. “It’s great then.” Brandon Moss agreed. “In batting practice, backspun balls go forever, so you think that’s the most efficient way to hit it,” Moss practically yelled. “I do not want backspin. I want my ball to go up, and I kind of want it to draw. That means I got behind it and stayed on it.”

 

There’s science behind what they are saying, too. Alan Nathan studied the effect of batted ball spin on batted ball distance this year in a closed environment, and found very little effect of the spin on the distance. “There is remarkably little variation in fly-ball distance due to variation in spin, largely due to the increase of drag with increasing spin,” is how the paper summarized the effect. More spin means more drag and less distance.

[jersey cubs fan]

That gives me bad flash backs to our awful high school baseball coach

[Derwood]

The MLB should adopt the NBA's new seeding policy

 

I hate the freaking stupidity that is at the very heart of every one of these stories:

Very little about that convoluted setup made sense.

 

Actually, it's not the least bit convoluted and it makes lots of sense. Taking these dumbass, my god that team has more wins than a team in another division it's not fair that something so arcane as geography plays a role in the standings, stances make these people look so freaking clueless about how the business of sports work.

 

It makes sense to have the three best teams in the NL battling for one NLCS spot while the 4th and 5th best teams play for the other?

[jersey cubs fan]

The MLB should adopt the NBA's new seeding policy

 

I hate the freaking stupidity that is at the very heart of every one of these stories:

Very little about that convoluted setup made sense.

 

Actually, it's not the least bit convoluted and it makes lots of sense. Taking these dumbass, my god that team has more wins than a team in another division it's not fair that something so arcane as geography plays a role in the standings, stances make these people look so freaking clueless about how the business of sports work.

 

It makes sense to have the three best teams in the NL battling for one NLCS spot while the 4th and 5th best teams play for the other?

 

Yes, it does, because that is how sports work. There are better and worse conferences and divisions and tougher schedules and easier schedules and teams that get lucky one year and great teams that get beat out by greater teams.

 

It makes sense to not freak out every season about the seemingly "unfair" set-up and propose new set-ups to solve a non-existent problem. There should not be an obsession with making sure all seeding situations are perfectly distributed. Geography matters in sports. Only idiots dismiss it as a convoluted concept.

[Guest]

either have an "unfair" and imperfect playoff setup like you have now, or you get rid of playoffs and have one world series if you want a much more legit champion

 

i'm fine with the "illegitimate" champion. beats the hell out of the former and is much more "unfair" toward good teams who end up missing a crack.

 

 

it sucks that right now it bites us in the ass but it is what it is