General Baseball Chit-Chat Thread

[champaignchris]

Puerto Rico is fantastic. After they get their place put back together from the hurricane, I'd highly recommend it as a vacation spot. It's just a slightly different flavor of USA. Walgreens and food courts and cable television and all. Just more palm trees, rum, and salsa music. It's like a Latino version of the Florida panhandle. Beautiful beaches, beautiful people and excellent fried food.

[Sammys Boombox]

We went on vacation once together. My wife has been there many times for both vacations and mission trips. Before the diagnosis we had a trip scheduled for last week to checkout Aguadilla and Rincon and to look for houses. We were going to go to the Tuesday Indians/Twins game. As it turns out the power issue would have made that trip pretty miserable with a 1-year-old and a 3-year-old.

[Cubswin11]

Puerto Rico is fantastic. After they get their place put back together from the hurricane, I'd highly recommend it as a vacation spot. It's just a slightly different flavor of USA. Walgreens and food courts and cable television and all. Just more palm trees, rum, and salsa music. It's like a Latino version of the Florida panhandle. Beautiful beaches, beautiful people and excellent fried food.

I was there last May on a Cruise, it stayed in port for 2 days so I had a good amount of time to see a bunch of things. I absolutely loved it and want to do a 10+ day vacation there eventually.

[davell]

[tweet]

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Not for nuttin'

[woodchip2153]

The lede Grant wrote for this is incredible

 

https://www.sbnation.com/2018/4/25/17282018/leonys-martin-hit-in-sensitive-area-that-common-google-search-that-we-all-use-every-so-often

[NonProfitCow]

Jeimer Candelario is hitting .297 .366 .560 .922 on the year

[Cubswin11]

Jeimer Candelario is hitting .297 .366 .560 .922 on the year

horsefeathers Justin Wilson and his mother

[We Got The Whole 9]

Jeimer, Flaherty, Soler, Villanueva, Lemahieu - all are raking in the early going

[NonProfitCow]

Jeimer, Flaherty, Soler, Villanueva, Lemahieu - all are raking in the early going

there all is raking

[Sammy Sofa]

Wait, how is Soler "raking?" It looks like he's walking significantly more.

[SouthSideRyan]

At least Justin Bour hasn't been that good.

[David]

let me lament how awesome the iowa cubs could be right now

[We Got The Whole 9]

Wait, how is Soler "raking?" It looks like he's walking significantly more.

Well to be honest when I looked this up a few days ago he was at a 375 wOBA. 350 is still nothing to scoff at.

[Derwood]

The inevitable downturn of Arrieta seems to be on some sort of delay

[17 Seconds]

The inevitable downturn of Arrieta seems to be on some sort of delay

 

he was only really impressive in 1 start. in his other 2 "good" ones he struck out a total of 3 guys

[Aaron_Kennelly]

The inevitable downturn of Arrieta seems to be on some sort of delay

 

he was only really impressive in 1 start. in his other 2 "good" ones he struck out a total of 3 guys

 

He's been really weird. Since his slider has abandoned him, he's thrown way more sinkers and way fewer sliders the last two years. But this year he's bumped it up a notch even. He's basically all but discarded the slider and just pumps in sinkers nonstop.

 

But last year he went from being an elite contact manager to really meh in that regard. His GB% dropped all the way down near league average and his exit velocity numbers were in the bottom half of the league. But he's got a horsefeathers ton of grounders and he's 10th among starters in exit velocity this year.

 

Maybe he finds a second life as some weirdo pitch-to-contact guy if he can keep a good grasp on his command -- which he wasn't able to do the last two years. But he still would frighten me if I were a Phillies fan after some of the horsefeathers I saw him go through the last two years. At times, it really seems like he's hanging on by threads. But he'll probably still be on top of his game enough to be worth 3+ wins.

[soccer10k]

The inevitable downturn of Arrieta seems to be on some sort of delay

 

he was only really impressive in 1 start. in his other 2 "good" ones he struck out a total of 3 guys

 

And people didn't really think he'd be terrible this year anyway. It was not wanting to give him a 5 year deal.

[Cubswin11]

Yeah he's basically the same pitcher as last year looking at the numbers and velo and what not, and probably tops out around 3 WAR in best case scenario. Plus yeah, it wasn't so much thinking he would just suck this year. It was over the term of the deal and a better pitcher being available for not much more + getting a draft pick for him.

[Derwood]

Through 24ish games, there are already four teams (Baltimore, Kansas City, Miami and Cincy) with a -50 (or more) run differential

[toonsterwu]

At least Justin Bour hasn't been that good.

 

Justin Bour may be one of the bigger surprises in the past decade of Cubs prospects for me, and for the life of me, I can't figure out why. I just never expected Bour to be a solid major leaguer, but realistically, the bat was always there, and the power was always there. He just never jumped off the page - I rememeber Rebel Ridling had a good run in AA one year, and while it might've been a bit lucky, that was something that stood out.

 

I'm still mildly surprised that no one came with a creative package to the Marlins to try and pry Bour as a first base/DH power option.

[toonsterwu]

Jeimer, Flaherty, Soler, Villanueva, Lemahieu - all are raking in the early going

 

I never really cared that much for the loss of Villanueva, but I always wondered, as 3rd base still isn't a great position at the MLB level, if the combination of a decent glove and a non-zero bat might get him a shot at PT at some point. Still, looks like SS/PCL impact in the early goings.

 

Jeimer always had a good bat and approach. Really curious how that career turns out - he was always young in our system, so he may just be tapping into this potential. I doubt he maintains this level of pop, but who knows.

[Cubswin11]

Soler has a 18% BB rate, 23% K rate and a .296/.433/.465 slash line with 2 Dongs. Still am rooting for him and hopefully he stays healthy/puts it together this year

[Regular Show]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/keithlaw/status/990417162497077248[/tweet]

 

I would imagine Pablo Sandoval being among the last position players a (good) manager would choose to pitch, but hey it worked somehow.

[Cubswin11]

The Dodgers-D’backs start a 4 game series tonight. The D’backs already have a 7 game lead on them. Feels like the Dodgers have to at least split. If Dodgers lose 3 of 4 or get swept, even though it’s early, a 9 or 11 game hole is a pretty big hill to climb even with ~80% of the season left.

[soccer10k]

The Dodgers-D’backs start a 4 game series tonight. The D’backs already have a 7 game lead on them. Feels like the Dodgers have to at least split. If Dodgers lose 3 of 4 or get swept, even though it’s early, a 9 or 11 game hole is a pretty big hill to climb even with ~80% of the season left.

 

They were down 8 games in late June 2016 and won the division with a week to play. They were down 10 in early June 2014 and won the division. Those took SF fading big time in the second half but it’s happened.

 

Definitely a big ask though.