General Baseball Chit-Chat Thread

[WrigleyField 22]

I don't know, shouldn't Choo administer a means test before he just gives $1,000 to everyone?

[Derwood]

That story read like "Local boy sells lemonade to pay his classmates' school lunch bills"

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It's a pretty good listen and I didn't realize how short and skinny Maddux was when he was drafted by the Cubs. It's funny how the scout that signed him had to fudge those details on the scouting report and made him taller.

 

I fudged numbers quite a bit. When it's was their 60 time, h/w. Do what it takes to get the crosschecker to see someone you really like.

[Regular Show]

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It's a pretty good listen and I didn't realize how short and skinny Maddux was when he was drafted by the Cubs. It's funny how the scout that signed him had to fudge those details on the scouting report and made him taller.

 

I fudged numbers quite a bit. When it's was their 60 time, h/w. Do what it takes to get the crosschecker to see someone you really like.

 

Oh yeah, I've heard plenty of stories of scouts fudging the numbers to make a prospect they like look better on paper and get more subsequent looks. It happens a lot or used to happen a lot...

 

Now, with draft models and computer-ranking systems in place in many scouting departments, I wonder how much it happens or if it still matters?

[UK]

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It's a pretty good listen and I didn't realize how short and skinny Maddux was when he was drafted by the Cubs. It's funny how the scout that signed him had to fudge those details on the scouting report and made him taller.

 

I fudged numbers quite a bit. When it's was their 60 time, h/w. Do what it takes to get the crosschecker to see someone you really like.

 

Oh yeah, I've heard plenty of stories of scouts fudging the numbers to make a prospect they like look better on paper and get more subsequent looks. It happens a lot or used to happen a lot...

 

Now, with draft models and computer-ranking systems in place in many scouting departments, I wonder how much it happens or if it still matters?

 

Not nearly as much as 10-15 years ago. Odds are the organ has seen them anyways. Showcases have blossomed so much and combined with travel ball, hiding players is much more difficult.

[SouthSideRyan]

I don't know, shouldn't Choo administer a means test before he just gives $1,000 to everyone?

 

This will only encourage them to not pursue employment

[Bertz]

[Regular Show]

 

Sean Doolittle is such an awesome guy. Great article and I hope he becomes more outspoken in the future. Has some of the highest praise in the industry from execs and players in the game. Definitely one of my favorite players in MLB.

 

I know relievers are fickle creatures, but I really, really hope we sign him next offseason. I think he would fit perfectly in our clubhouse and boost morale, along with his solid contributions on the field.

[Andy]

Nice guy, performance trending down, will be 34 when he's next available. We have enough late inning redhead relievers who are way past their prime already.

[Regular Show]

Nice guy, performance trending down, will be 34 when he's next available. We have enough late inning redhead relievers who are way past their prime already.

 

I'm not saying we should sign him for big money, multiple years. If WAS gives him a QO then I'd probably pass...

 

I was impressed watching him pitch during the Nationals' run in the postseason. I don't watch a ton of their games, but I came away very impressed with both Anthony Rendon and Sean Doolittle. I know for a fact that we've tried to acquire him in the past, so I'm pretty sure Theo is a fan as well.

 

I had doubts about Kimbrel and that signing looks like a disaster. Maybe he'll be better this year? If I knew the budget was so tight there is no way in hell I'm signing Kimbrel (if I were Theo).

 

Depending on the medicals and how he performs (I'm assuming a shortened baseball season) this year, I think Doolittle gets a 2-yr deal. I don't think he ends up re-signing in WAS, but we'll see what happens. I'm a big fan and I hope he stays healthy, and that we have some room in our budget to sign him next offseason.

[Regular Show]

 

Wow, some of these dimensions are wild lol:

 

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[Clem Fandango]

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[Regular Show]

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[WrigleyField 22]

 

Wow, some of these dimensions are wild lol:

 

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This was for little league, not HS. They'd frequently have two games going on at once and by the time we got to probably 5th grade and were hitting the ball further, the CF from each side would basically be facing each other.

[Cubswin11]

This is a wonderful thread

 

https://twitter.com/greatstufftm/status/1247248524393283584?s=21

[NonProfitCow]

[Regular Show]

Lol, I think I would find this more disconcerting than having no fans in the stands?

[imb]

Lol, I think I would find this more disconcerting than having no fans in the stands?

 

david can you report back what the game was like?

[Regular Show]

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That's super weird and I've seen almost every kind of pitch grip.

 

I honestly don't even understand the point of tucking in the middle finger here, like you would the index finger on a traditional knucklecurve grip. Just throw a split-change or some variation of that. I'm curious to see the Rapsodo numbers for this.

[imb]

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That's super weird and I've seen almost every kind of pitch grip.

 

I honestly don't even understand the point of tucking in the middle finger here, like you would the index finger on a traditional knucklecurve grip. Just throw a split-change or some variation of that. I'm curious to see the Rapsodo numbers for this.

 

you haven't seen half the horsefeathers out there on the dark web

[Regular Show]

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Yeah, I got my copy last week.

 

It's a fantastic book and I haven't finished it. It might be the Moneyball for this decade. It's already one of my favorite baseball books and a great way to support Eric and Kiley for all their hard work. It starts with an awesome excerpt from Skyfall and how it relates to scouts and baseball.

 

They put a lot into this book and it shows. There is an interesting story early in the book about Tim Wilken and the Cubs' draft room in 2007. I thought he was super high on Josh Vitters, but he actually wanted Jarrod Parker. Both ended up being disappointing picks, but it was a cool story. I'm not a fan of the trying to find a consensus in the room approach; identify your best scout(s) and/or national crosschecker and let them go to work. Everyone in the room wanted Vitters except for Tim Wilken, apparently.

 

The book is very informative, especially for people unfamiliar with scouting. I get crap for saying this, but I already know a lot of the stuff in this book. Like how an assistant GM doesn't decide to go backwards on the organizational hierarchy to become a scouting director lol (salary is far worse)... that isn't normal.

 

I'm biased but I think It's better than The Arm, it's better than Keith Law's first book, it's better than Moneyball. It's great and I hope they collaborate again on another book down the road.

[17 Seconds]

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That's super weird and I've seen almost every kind of pitch grip.

 

I honestly don't even understand the point of tucking in the middle finger here, like you would the index finger on a traditional knucklecurve grip. Just throw a split-change or some variation of that. I'm curious to see the Rapsodo numbers for this.

 

bauer has a grip that looks a lot like the finger circle game

[NonProfitCow]

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That's super weird and I've seen almost every kind of pitch grip.

 

I honestly don't even understand the point of tucking in the middle finger here, like you would the index finger on a traditional knucklecurve grip. Just throw a split-change or some variation of that. I'm curious to see the Rapsodo numbers for this.

 

bauer has a grip that looks a lot like the finger circle game

Bauer's would just be a circle change.

 

As for the grip above, why not just throw a forkball?

[soccer10k]

So I knew about Brenly leaving Randy Johnson in to throw 104 pitches in Game 6 of the 01 WS even though Arizona was up 12-0 after 3 and 15-0 after 4.

 

But on today’s Effectively Wild, they mentioned that Byung-Hyun Kim threw 61 pitches in Game 4. This wasn’t crazy since he had thrown 50+ out of the pen 3 other times that year. After each of those other appearances, he got 3, 3 and 2 days off. However, in the WS, Brenly horsefeathering brought Kim back out for Game 5 the next day! As I’m sure everyone here remembers, it did not go well.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

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