Rob

Yeah, I'm under no illusions. It's coming sooner rather than later. Honestly, the writing was on the wall as soon as the AL adopted it. Both leagues couldn't keep different rules forever, and the union would never agree to give up a well-paying job like the DH. And once interleague play became a thing, that really speed up the process. Still, I'm allowed not to be happy about this. It's a dumb change.

If every DH were David Ortiz in his prime, this might be a different story. But that's not how it works. The average DH hit .252/.339/.467 for a line just 10% better than league average. But we're not talking about having them replace a league-average hitter. They're replacing guys who are lucky to hit .150. For like 2 AB. By the 7th inning or so, they're often just replacing the pinch hitter, who is probably the same person that is now DHing. I don't care enough about that one AB the pitcher takes in the 3rd inning enough to justify giving up the strategic decision of whether to let them bat in the 5th or 6th.

For decades, the single most important decision that a manager has to make during a game has been what to do with his starting pitcher coming up to the plate in a close game. There are plenty of actual things that go into the decision of whether or not to pinch hit for the pitcher, and with whom. What is the score? How is my pitcher performing? How fatigued are they? How many more batters can they face? Who is coming up in the opponent's order in the next couple innings? Are those players good or bad matchups for my starting pitcher? Who do we have available in our bullpen today? How are they pitching? Do we have runners on base currently? How is our offense performing? Which batters are available off the bench? What are their matchups against this pitcher? Is the other manager warming up guys in his bullpen? Are those other pitchers good or bad matchups for our pinch hitters? Etc... It is just about the only time that a manager can make a real strategic difference in a game. The rest of the in-game managing could be done by a drunken monkey. If every DH were David Ortiz in his prime, this might be a different story. But that's not how it works. The average DH hit .252/.339/.467 for a line just 10% better than league average. It's just the place you shove rehabbing and past-their-prime players who can't hack it in the field anymore, and guys who probably will be retired in a couple years. I think that's boring. I enjoy the strategic side of it much more than watching geriatric players pad their numbers without making a meaningful impact.

Ugh, the DH is gross and stupid. Oh great, instead of thinking about interesting strategic decisions I get to watch some 36 year old former All-Star with 2 years remaining on his megadeal put up an incredibly mediocre offensive performance.

This move is fine. Lucroy was showing a few signs of life at one point this season. Worst case scenario, he spells Caratini for a month or so until Contreras comes back. Then we cut him. No risk, and some slight potential for a mild surprise.

Wow, he's about the last sportswriter I would have expected that from. Except for maybe Dave Cameron, whom I doubt has the requisite physicality to actually lift his arms above his waist.

I haven't been paying attention the the minors much the last few years. I'm in NC for a funeral and a bunch of as are going to catch the Myrtle Beach game in Winston-Salem tonight. Which prospects should I be keeping an eye on?

Everything alright buddy?

Her(z)?

Divorce sucks. I feel bad for the kids.

Yeah, after reading that I'm going to give my daughter the biggest hug when I get home from work tonight. I ugly-cried while reading that. Not ashamed.

Finally...

1.) Jason Heyward is nearly as good as Bryce Harper this season. 2.) Javy struggles out of the gate and tries way too hard to bring his season averages up, causing a prolonged slump. He ends up around 1.5 fWAR. 3.) Bryant rebounds and posts a near-MVP season. 4.) Cole Hamels posts an ERA over 4. 5.) Darvish is our best pitcher around the All-Star break, but gets tired and struggles down the stretch.

I'm pretty sure I simply no longer care about baseball at this point. Would anybody be able to explain cricket to me?

Yeah, I'm done with him. And I'm done with the Cubs until he's off the team.

Yeah, Russell needs to go. Yesterday. I'm so sick and tired of seeing the Cubs walk down this ugly path. Ever since they brought Aroldis Chapman in, this team has become harder and harder to cheer for.

I certainly wasn't espousing my belief that everything is secret good news --just that I refuse to get worked up over reports that we're saying exactly what I thought we'd probably be saying.

The Lester thing is clearly different. The Cubs were coming off a 73-89 season and had almost no big-league talent. This was not an organization that people were going to want to come to for reasons other than money. So we advertised the money. Now we have a team that good players want to be a part of, so our pitch can lean a bit more heavily on those things.

Meh, I'm still not putting much stock in all the media reports. If Harper wants to be here (and it certainly seems that he does), it makes a lot of sense for the front office to act poor and hope he'll lower his demands to make it work. I refuse to get outraged when everybody is doing exactly what I'd expect them to do. I'll wait and hold my outrage until he signs elsewhere.

It's not really a bounceback deal. The Blue Jays are eating his entire salary. Wherever he signs, it will be for the $500k league minimum with the Blue Jays making up the rest for the next two years. So it's more a question of what team offers him the best opportunity for him to continue playing. I think the Cubs could be reasonably high up that list. We have a lot of roster flexibility, so he only needs to play when he's feeling up to it. There's plenty of other big names on this team, so nobody would expect much of him. They could just slot him in at SS 2-3 times per week and bat him 7th or 8th and let him work his way back on his own schedule. Good clubhouse atmosphere and a team that should definitely compete. There's a lot to like.

I would be all about trying to pick him up for the league minimum.

The issue is Harold Baines only got in because he got the "he definitely didn't do steroids" vote from the Morganistans and "he was on my team" vote from LaRussa and Reinsdorf. It's not about making the Hall more inclusive and will not help other borderline cases. In the short term, I agree that it doesn't do much. But it should help the crowd of primary DHs. I imagine Edgar gets in this year, and Papi should follow him without sucking up a spot for 3-4 years while writers debate whether they can put DHs in the Hall. And even if you consider him a RF, I imagine it's a lot easier to check the box for a guy like Larry Walker when you know Baines is in.

I've always been a "big Hall" guy, who thinks almost every borderline case should probably get the nod. So I'm trying to look at this bizarre election of Harold Baines and think about what it could mean for guys like Todd Helton, Gary Sheffield, Kenny Lofton, Jim Edmonds, Andruw Jones, Fred McGriff, Carlos Delgado, etc... It's a lot harder to keep guys like that out when guys like Harold Baines are in the Hall. So I guess I'm alright with it. That said, the utter sanctimony of the Hall of Fame voters keeping out guys like Bonds and Clemens has really turned me off on the whole thing.

I never hated LaTroy. He was a perfectly fine setup guy who openly expressed that he didn't want to close games, and Dusty pushed him into that position regardless. When he'd screw up, I'd be mad at Dusty rather than him.

I am struggling to process what I just read. I cannot fathom how a parent could be so cruel to their own child. Simply unbelievable. I felt awful for letting my daughter cry for 30 seconds because I couldn't hold her and look under the couch for the pacifier she wanted at the same time. I cannot fathom actively inflicting that kind of pain on your own child. Simply monstrous.