General Baseball Chit-Chat Thread

[Clem Fandango]

Admittedly, I've spent very little time following baseball this season so I hadn't realized that the Dodgers are on pace to win 114 games. The Padres, who are 13 games over .500, are 19.5 games back in the division.

 

Be curious to see what kind of pace they can keep up with Gonsolin, Kershaw and Buehler all on the shelf and insane, probably unsustainable performances from 30-something journeymen like Heaney and Tyler Anderson. Of course, they just got Dustin May back, but I don’t know who their 5th starter is right now and I have no clue what their starting rotation will look like come playoff time.

 

The funny thing is the 5th starter you're forgetting about is Julio Urias who has been arguably the best pitcher in baseball since the ASB.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

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[champaignchris]

Admittedly, I've spent very little time following baseball this season so I hadn't realized that the Dodgers are on pace to win 114 games. The Padres, who are 13 games over .500, are 19.5 games back in the division.

 

Be curious to see what kind of pace they can keep up with Gonsolin, Kershaw and Buehler all on the shelf and insane, probably unsustainable performances from 30-something journeymen like Heaney and Tyler Anderson. Of course, they just got Dustin May back, but I don’t know who their 5th starter is right now and I have no clue what their starting rotation will look like come playoff time.

 

The funny thing is the 5th starter you're forgetting about is Julio Urias who has been arguably the best pitcher in baseball since the ASB.

 

I wasn’t forgetting Urias. Him, May, Heaney and Anderson were the Dodgers’ four starters at the time. They’ve since answered my fifth starter question by bringing Kershaw back off the IL.

 

Pretty nice when you can fill that hole in your rotation by slotting in this generation’s best left handed.

[champaignchris]

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These last two seasons he’s been a Hall of Fame bat and an All-Star pitcher in the same body. It’s unbelievable what he’s doing.

 

It’s even more unbelievable that the Angels have ridden a healthy Ohtani and Trout to a 59-76 record this year. Just 2 1/2 games better than the Cubs.

[UMFan83]

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These last two seasons he’s been a Hall of Fame bat and an All-Star pitcher in the same body. It’s unbelievable what he’s doing.

 

It’s even more unbelievable that the Angels have ridden a healthy Ohtani and Trout to a 59-76 record this year. Just 2 1/2 games better than the Cubs.

 

More: Ohtani is the Angels qualified leader in BA, HR, RBI, OBP, RBI, Wins, ERA and Strikeouts

 

[UMFan83]

The only innocuous explanation that makes sense to me is Close sticking to an arbitrary timeframe in the name of not being seen as a pushover. E.g. Freddie says he wants to make his choice on Day X, Close tells teams final offers due by 5 PM on Day X-1, on Day X-1 at 7 PM Braves say wait we found more money under the couch cushions, Close says no too bad we gave you a deadline and it passed.

 

That sounds like Close not wanting to sound like a pushover and does nothing for Freeman at all. It would once again be an agent acting in his own best interest over his client's.

 

Most likely yes, but there's probably shades of gray. What if in my example it's actually 1 AM on Day X that the final offer comes from Atlanta, as one hypothetical. The idea is that in order for Close to reflect his client's wishes(in this case on decision timing), he may have to create ultimately arbitrary limits to ensure all the logistics are in order, and that creates room for there to technically be a time where Atlanta sends an offer(whether that's a detailed contract or a text message with years/dollars) that is after that limit but before Freeman deciding or signing with LA.

 

Or maybe he's getting a kickback from the Dodgers. I'm mostly just thinking out loud.

 

Now Gottlieb is completely retracting his report.

 

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Tomorrow the pitch clock and shift restrictions are getting voted on, which is likely a formality. The Athletic has a lot of details on how the rules work: https://theathletic.com/3578254/2022/09/08/mlb-2023-rule-changes-pitch-clock/?source=twitterhq

 

There's lots of details about the specifics of the pitch clock, but the gist is 15 seconds with bases empty and 20 with runners on. The shift restrictions are more mild than some versions I've seen, 2 players must be on each side of second base and must have both feet in the dirt. The one interesting thing I hadn't seen before is that teams have to specify who those players are, so teams can't swap their SS and 2B to get more range against LHH.

[Bertz]

I'm a big proponent of both of those, so great news.

 

I didn't realize we were getting the "only two pickoffs" rule this soon too. That sounds like a really big deal to me, but from how little discussion it generates maybe in practice it hasn't been?

[Cubswin11]

I’m onboard for those changes.

[champaignchris]

I’m unreasonably annoyed by the pitcher throwing to first base when the runner is literally standing on the base. So, I’m all on board the 2 pick off moves rule.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Both were approved today along with larger bases. Larger bases were unanimous, the players voted against the pitch clock and shift restrictions. I am...not convinced by their reasoning.

 

[champaignchris]

Both were approved today along with larger bases. Larger bases were unanimous, the players voted against the pitch clock and shift restrictions. I am...not convinced by their reasoning.

 

 

I understand the shift complaints a bit more. The rule seems to go beyond eliminating the shift as its been employed over the last 15-ish years. Shortstops have had their feet in the outfield grass for decades before that.

 

Something I’m curious about… would the shift rule also eliminate the Rizzo strategy of coming way up on the batter for bunt attempts? Not that it’s as relevant any more with the NL DH.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Something I’m curious about… would the shift rule also eliminate the Rizzo strategy of coming way up on the batter for bunt attempts? Not that it’s as relevant any more with the NL DH.

 

Would depend on the specifics of how the rule was written. I would guess that in writing the rules you don't use "feet in the dirt" in defining this and rather something like "not in the outfield" or "past the boundary of the infield" or some such legalese that would not include cheating up for bunts or runner on 3rd situations.

[imb]

So AL MVP ...

 

Judge 302/408/684 55 HR 9.2 fWAR

Ohtani 267/356/536 33 HR 3.5 fWAR, 11-8 181 K in 136 innings 4.4 fWAR (7.9 fWAR total)

 

my first instinct is that Judge probably gets it based on the ding dongs and the Yankees superior record, but man Ohtani is such a freak, and even providing 1 or 2 fWAR less might even out considering he opens up a roster spot by being a two-way guy?

[Transmogrified Tiger]

So AL MVP ...

 

Judge 302/408/684 55 HR 9.2 fWAR

Ohtani 267/356/536 33 HR 3.5 fWAR, 11-8 181 K in 136 innings 4.4 fWAR (7.9 fWAR total)

 

my first instinct is that Judge probably gets it based on the ding dongs and the Yankees superior record, but man Ohtani is such a freak, and even providing 1 or 2 fWAR less might even out considering he opens up a roster spot by being a two-way guy?

 

Judge is doing this while playing an averageish CF in about 60% of his games too, which is absurd considering he had only played a handful of pro games there before this season.

 

On the roster spot thing, I've seen it pointed out that the benefit is a bit muted because in order for Ohtani to do what he does, the Angels go to a 6 man rotation, and Ohtani is only DHing when he's hitting. Before looking into it my thought was "come on, it has to be Ohtani", but I think I'd probably go with Judge right now if it were up to me.

[PackLandVA]

Link to Article

 

Keibert Ruiz has some balls. Apparently some really LARGE balls!

 

The fateful impact occurred during the second inning, when Cardinals rookie Ben DeLuzio took a swing at an 86 mph slider from Nationals starting pitcher Josiah Gray. DeLuzio's bat grazed the ball enough to send it downward, right into Ruiz's most sensitive area.

 

It remains unclear why Ruiz wasn't wearing a protective cup, or what went wrong if he was.

 

But there's no sugarcoating it, this was not a good day for the 24-year-old catcher.

[Irrelevant Dude]

With the pitch clock in place, can we get rid of the extra innings runner now? As much as I have come around on most of the other changes, I still hate the extra innings runner as much as I did on Day 1.

[BigSlick]

Extremely into the pitch clock - not into the restrictions of the shift. Seems like there's still leeway to move infielders around a bit, but you can't do extreme shifts like they once did.

 

I just like as much strategy involved in what teams can do - rewards skill and understanding. Oh well. It's also not fun to have offense so weak. I hate having a .700 OPS be a 100 OPS+

[Transmogrified Tiger]

I just like as much strategy involved in what teams can do - rewards skill and understanding. Oh well. It's also not fun to have offense so weak. I hate having a .700 OPS be a 100 OPS+

 

To play devil's avocado, I think the shift restriction does a lot to reward skill. Any MLB team should be able to read a spray chart and put a shift on, so while there's understanding it's basically table stakes at this point. But with the restriction, the hitters are rewarded for hitting the ball hard, pitchers are rewarded for not giving up hard contact, and fielders are rewarded for having the range/arm to make lower probability plays.

[Bertz]

With the pitch clock in place, can we get rid of the extra innings runner now? As much as I have come around on most of the other changes, I still hate the extra innings runner as much as I did on Day 1.

 

Allegedly this was the last year for it, and the only reason it was implemented this year was the lockout. I'm in believe it when I see it mode there but that was the messaging in March and I haven't heard otherwise yet, and it presumably would have been mentioned with today's stuff if they were bringing it back.

[NOLA]

With the pitch clock in place, can we get rid of the extra innings runner now? As much as I have come around on most of the other changes, I still hate the extra innings runner as much as I did on Day 1.

If not already answered, that was pushed to winter meetings or possibly ST for a vote.

[jersey cubs fan]

[Andy]

With the pitch clock in place, can we get rid of the extra innings runner now? As much as I have come around on most of the other changes, I still hate the extra innings runner as much as I did on Day 1.

If not already answered, that was pushed to winter meetings or possibly ST for a vote.

Unfortunately I think I've seen several snippets over the past couple years about players liking it, and I doubt the owners are going to step in to save us from that.

[NOLA]

With the pitch clock in place, can we get rid of the extra innings runner now? As much as I have come around on most of the other changes, I still hate the extra innings runner as much as I did on Day 1.

If not already answered, that was pushed to winter meetings or possibly ST for a vote.

Unfortunately I think I've seen several snippets over the past couple years about players liking it, and I doubt the owners are going to step in to save us from that.

I hate the runner on 2B so bad. It would be better even if they put the runner on 1B to start the inning, and not in freaking scoring position so Slappy McSlaps can bloop a hit leading off the 10th to win the game. Of even start the rule in the 12th inning, like hockey plays OT periods before a shootout.

[Bertz]

 

Baumann is about as far from a cheerleader for MLB as you can get so I think this is a lot more meaningful than it'd be from like an MLB.com writer.

 

On the shift:

 

In a perfect world, MLB wouldn’t have had to ban the shift. Players would have changed their approach and started flicking the ball the other way. Failing that, teams would recognize the competitive advantage of spray hitting and scouted and developed hitters who can use the whole field. Joe Sheehan put it quite well on Twitter last week: “Shift restrictions don’t reward contact, they reward dead-pull hitting.”

 

But that much-prophesied generation of Zoomer Tony Gwynns never showed up, and after 10 or 15 years of hand-wringing, the list of most-shifted players in baseball just looks like a list of the best hitters in baseball. No, seriously. The top five hitters in plate appearances against the shift this season — Corey Seager, Marcus Semien, Freddie Freeman, José Ramírez, and Matt Olson — have all signed nine-figure contracts in the past 12 months. Cedric Mullins and Rafael Devers are in the top 10, and Juan Soto and Shohei Ohtani are in the top 15.

 

Rather than work around the shift, the top left-handed hitters in baseball have for the most part decided that the best option is to swing like hell and live with the occasional 115 mph lineout to a second baseman standing in short right field. Immediately after decrying the new shift rule, Sheehan diagnosed the real problem: It’s too hard to hit the ball. Even if most hitters were able to dink and dunk the ball to a specific place like Carlos Alcaraz — which they aren’t — contact is too precious a commodity to waste on anything but full-effort swings.

 

And the shift is only getting better at eating up batted balls:

 

 

MLB could goose the league-wide BABIP by moving the mound back, or transitioning to a smooth baseball, or gently electrocuting any pitcher who throws harder than 94 mph. But failing that, it’s time to concede defeat. We’ve waited more than 10 years, and the spray hitting/drag bunting revolution just hasn’t come, and probably never will. Treating the symptoms isn’t as good as curing the disease, but it’s better than not treating the symptoms at all.

 

On the pitch clock:

 

In 2010, the average time between pitches was an even 21 seconds. By 2021, it was 23.7 seconds, which has come down a bit this year thanks to PitchCom but is still almost 10% higher than it was a decade ago. The FanGraphs glossary page on the Pace stat, written in 2015, comes with a handy chart: 21.5 seconds is average, 23.5 seconds is slow. The entire league, by those standards, is positively Trachselite in its tempo.

 

Relievers, whose share of the game increases each season, topped out at 24.7 seconds between pitches last year. Giovanny Gallegos, may God have mercy on his soul, is the slowest among pitchers with 10 or more innings, at a pace of 31 seconds in all situations. It’s just not necessary.

 

Those few seconds per pitch bleed the energy out of the game a few drops at a time, and oh by the way add up to playoff games glopping on past four hours and ending after midnight on the East Coast. They’re the difference between a game that drags like the hymns at an Episcopalian funeral and a game that bounces along like “Sing, Sing, Sing.”

 

Now here’s the really exciting part. Last year, Craig Goldstein and Patrick Dubuque of Baseball Prospectus proposed a so-called restrictor plate for the modern pitcher; a series of minor reforms that would require teams to build rosters that valued bulk innings. To make a random set of 13 guys who spent a long weekend at Driveline and now throw 98 with Brad Lidge’s slider, for one inning at a time, a less tenable pitching staff.

 

Part of the calculus was a pitch clock; the grip-it-and-rip-it reliever needs 25 seconds to rest between pitches or else he’ll get tired before even one inning is over. Forcing pitchers to work more quickly would, the logic goes, force them to conserve their effort. That means less velocity, less oomph on breaking pitches, and a more hittable baseball. The potential downstream effects of this — fewer strikeouts, more balls in play, a greater premium on top-end starting pitchers — are so exciting I don’t want to get my hopes up.

 

I basically quoted the entire article, but it merits it.