General Baseball Chit-Chat Thread

[toonsterwu]

He's just so balanced and disciplined at the plate, without sacrificing his power. Now, Dave Martinez has sorta protected him - he gets a bit more rest, but that's partly because with Adam Eaton back healthy, they can afford to rest him a bit more. Still, the only odd statistic of note was that he seemed to strike out way more against righties, but that looks to be a SSS issue. Of course, Michael Taylor is probably their 4th best OF, but he might be their best defensive centerfielder, which is where the problem lies for them right now, as playing Bryce in CF isn't ideal.

 

Truthfully, he should be their 3rd or 4th hitter right now, with Rendon scuffling, but they probably don't want to push the kid in there.

[davell]

http://thecomeback.com/freezingcoldtakes/mlb/2008-local-columnist-advocated-reds-trade-votto-cueto-bailey-joe-blanton.html

 

So, this is one of the worst takes I've ever seen. Writer advocated Reds trading Votto, Cueto, and Bailey in 2008.....

 

For Joe Blanton.

[Sammy Sofa]

http://thecomeback.com/freezingcoldtakes/mlb/2008-local-columnist-advocated-reds-trade-votto-cueto-bailey-joe-blanton.html

 

So, this is one of the worst takes I've ever seen. Writer advocated Reds trading Votto, Cueto, and Bailey in 2008.....

 

For Joe Blanton.

 

My guess is he had just read that right before they took this:

 

http://www.milb.com/images/430599/generic/180x270/430599.jpg

[Derwood]

Mike Trout has more games this year where he reached base 4+ times (12) than games he has gone hitless (11)

[soccer10k]

I saw that Juan Soto homered in a suspended game yesterday that was originally started before he debuted. Does anyone know if that would affect service time at all? Like if a team held down a player just long enough that he's one day short of a full year and then a scenario like this happens, does that add an extra day of service time? I would think not but it's such a fluky instance that's not likely to occur so there might not be anything in the CBA about it.

[Derwood]

I saw that Juan Soto homered in a suspended game yesterday that was originally started before he debuted. Does anyone know if that would affect service time at all? Like if a team held down a player just long enough that he's one day short of a full year and then a scenario like this happens, does that add an extra day of service time? I would think not but it's such a fluky instance that's not likely to occur so there might not be anything in the CBA about it.

 

The MLBPA would appeal the hell out of that if the team tried pulling that crap.

[Garwilly]

I saw that Juan Soto homered in a suspended game yesterday that was originally started before he debuted. Does anyone know if that would affect service time at all? Like if a team held down a player just long enough that he's one day short of a full year and then a scenario like this happens, does that add an extra day of service time? I would think not but it's such a fluky instance that's not likely to occur so there might not be anything in the CBA about it.

 

The MLBPA would appeal the hell out of that if the team tried pulling that crap.

 

 

But that would be a good thing for the player...

[Derwood]

I saw that Juan Soto homered in a suspended game yesterday that was originally started before he debuted. Does anyone know if that would affect service time at all? Like if a team held down a player just long enough that he's one day short of a full year and then a scenario like this happens, does that add an extra day of service time? I would think not but it's such a fluky instance that's not likely to occur so there might not be anything in the CBA about it.

 

The MLBPA would appeal the hell out of that if the team tried pulling that crap.

 

 

But that would be a good thing for the player...

 

oh, ha ha ha, right. I need coffee

[imb]

Mike Trout is a god damn freak.

[soccer10k]

Mike Trout is a horsefeathers freak.

 

Remember a couple years ago people were wondering what a peak Mike Trout might do and if he would even improve much because what he was doing was already insane?

 

Well we're seeing it right now.

[Sammys Boombox]

I’ve done a ton of realignment variations over the years, but I think this one captures quite a bit of what most people want. I’ve even proposed it to purists whose knee jerk reaction was “no way,” but then when I discussed the merits with them they have changed their minds and have gotten excited about the possibilities.

 

Realignment

No more AL/NL.

4 geographic divisions of 8 teams (Portland and Montreal get us to 32 teams).

 

Schedule

12 games against 7 division opponents

3 games against the remaining 24 teams

156 Games

 

Postseason

4 Division Winners

7 Wild Card Winners

 

Wild Card Round - (if you’re gonna get all upset and stop reading when I say best-of-three then just skip this section and assume I said 1 game do or die). Regular season ends on Thursday. Throughout the day Saturday 6 of the wild card teams play game 1 of a 3-game series. Sunday afternoon all 3 game 2s begin staggered by an hour. If necessary game 3 is played immediately after.

 

Division Round - Best of 5. Division Winners get seeds 1-4. Best overall Wild Card team got a bye as well and gets the 5 seed. 3 winners from Wild Card Round are reseeded 6-8 based on regular season record.

 

Pennant Round - Best of 7

World Series - Best of 7

 

DIVISIONS

WEST

SEA

POR

SF

OAK

LAD

LAA

SD

AZ

 

MIDWEST

COL

HOU

TEX

KC

STL

CHC

CHW

MIL

 

NORTH

MIN

CIN

CLE

DET

PIT

TOR

MTL

ATL

 

EAST

BOS

NYM

NYY

PHI

BAL

WAS

TB

MIA

 

Realignment Discussion

These divisions would help with travel. And I really like the possibilities for the postseason including the chance that any two teams could face off in a World Series. Only 2 teams reside in a time zone that doesn’t match every other team in the division and purposefully both of those teams are one hour behind the rest of the division. So basically all evening start times will be 6:00 or 7:00. Other than MIN and COL the most series a team would ever play outside their time zone is 12. This will be an improvement for every single team in baseball except for the current East divisions, but it is basically a wash for them. It would be really easy to setup the schedule so 4 teams in one divison all go on a road trip to play 4 teams in another division over the course of 2 weeks. Block scheduling could be awesome for planning road trips.

 

Schedule Discussion

At 156 games you actually get pretty close to having an off day every week of the season. This minimizes the need for 2 and 4 game series, but the few you need could all be in your division. The schedule math easily works, which is often overlooked in these realignment plans. Hopefully, that’s enough off days to fit in rainouts since you have individual series against 24 teams. That’s the biggest con to this schedule.

 

Postseason Discussion

All 3 games of Wild Card Round are played in the higher seeds’ park. 3 teams get eliminated in the course of a few hours. It’s as close to a March Madness type day as baseball can get. In the current format I think the 1-game Wild Card is fine. This format changes things a bit, and I prefer the 3-game format. If you hate it, then just change it to a 1-game format (or 5 for those who prefer that).

[Transmogrified Tiger]

That is functionally the proposal that appears to have at least some momentum/interest from MLB: https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/Expansion-Could-Trigger-Realignment-Longer-Postseason

[jersey cubs fan]

Doubleheader playoff games is a terribly stupid idea

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Doubleheader playoff games is a terribly stupid idea

 

If you absolutely have to do best of 3 I think that's a good option to get closer to the one game atmosphere, but you don't need to do it at all. Just do the single game elimination.

[Sammys Boombox]

Doubleheader playoff games is a terribly stupid idea

 

Then just ignore I said it. Almost didn’t even include it because I knew so many of you would get hung up on it.

[Sammys Boombox]

That is functionally the proposal that appears to have at least some momentum/interest from MLB: https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/Expansion-Could-Trigger-Realignment-Longer-Postseason

 

 

Wow. Would like that. Mine was my best case scenario based on my own opinions. But you wouldn’t hear me complain about this at all. If I had to tweak one thing it would be only 6 or 7 wild cards so you can reward second place teams that are likely 95-win teams many years.

[Derwood]

That's....a lot of wild cards

[soccer10k]

That's....a lot of wild cards

 

It’s got one more playoff team than we have now.

[jersey cubs fan]

That is functionally the proposal that appears to have at least some momentum/interest from MLB: https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/Expansion-Could-Trigger-Realignment-Longer-Postseason

 

 

Wow. Would like that. Mine was my best case scenario based on my own opinions. But you wouldn’t hear me complain about this at all. If I had to tweak one thing it would be only 6 or 7 wild cards so you can reward second place teams that are likely 95-win teams many years.

You reward them by letting them make the playoffs while not winning their division. The point is to make the regular season meaningful, despite opening up to more teams. They'd also get home game for their one game playoff.

[Tim]

That's....a lot of wild cards

12 teams in the playoffs is not much different than the current 10 teams.

[Sammys Boombox]

That is functionally the proposal that appears to have at least some momentum/interest from MLB: https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/Expansion-Could-Trigger-Realignment-Longer-Postseason

 

 

Wow. Would like that. Mine was my best case scenario based on my own opinions. But you wouldn’t hear me complain about this at all. If I had to tweak one thing it would be only 6 or 7 wild cards so you can reward second place teams that are likely 95-win teams many years.

You reward them by letting them make the playoffs while not winning their division. The point is to make the regular season meaningful, despite opening up to more teams. They'd also get home game for their one game playoff.

 

In my opinion there are lots of pros and cons. I personally prefer to reward the best wild card (or two) as opposed to giving the team 15 games back of them a 1-game shot to knock them out. Especially if that worse team has an ace, and the 99-win team threw their ace on one of the last 2 games of the season and lost the division to a 100-win team.

 

I do believe you can separate this argument from the current format because the divisions are so large. A second place team in an 8-team division that has a better record than all of the other second place teams is guaranteed to be a top 5 team in the league and could fall anywhere from 2-5. Currently we let 6 teams out of 32 into the division round straight from the regular season. I prefer that number to remain at least 5 in a 32 team league.

[Derwood]

What's the logistical difference between four 8-team divisions (plus a bunch of wildcards) vs. eight 4-team divisions (a la the NFL) with fewer wildcards?

[Sammys Boombox]

That's....a lot of wild cards

12 teams in the playoffs is not much different than the current 10 teams.

 

I don’t want to get too far down the 1 versus 3 game series Wild Card rabbit hole, but it is one reason I like the 3 game series. I think homefield carries more significance in a 3-game series than a do or die. Which helps create a race between some of those middle Wild Card teams that may be out of their division race but well above the lower wild card spot. I do admit, this is a very minor difference.

 

It’s one reason I also like having only 6 or 7 wild cards instead of 8. You want to try to structure it so you don’t have too many wild cards that comfortably have a playoff spot but no shot at a ticket to skip the wild card round. The more tiers that are setup in a playoff system the more likely games in September matter for more teams. There is value in winning the division, value in getting the top wild card spot, value in getting home field for wild card game or series and value in making the playoffs period. Admittedly one divison race would be slightly less meaningful in years where two teams are close to each other and no wild card teams have a shot of catching them, but that’s about it. But that wouldn’t even happen every season.

[Sammys Boombox]

What's the logistical difference between four 8-team divisions (plus a bunch of wildcards) vs. eight 4-team divisions (a la the NFL) with fewer wildcards?

 

100-win teams playing a 1-game Wild Card and 79-win teams waiting for them in the division round.

 

If you go that route my opinion is that winning your division only guarantees you a playoff spot, but teams are seeded 1-6 based on record alone. So, yes, a wild card could go to the division round while a division champ has to play in the wild card round.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

What's the logistical difference between four 8-team divisions (plus a bunch of wildcards) vs. eight 4-team divisions (a la the NFL) with fewer wildcards?

 

The big benefit from the 8 team divisions in the proposed schedule is that it takes a big bite out of travel costs. You could do eight 4 team divisions and weight the schedule with games from your division and a sister division for the same result, and the main benefit is about a playoff structure that is less desired(8 teams) or can also be replicated with 4 divisions.