Transmogrified Tiger

Hosmer isn't playing 1B over Mancini and is getting lifted for Madrigal, he can't be long for the roster

3 outs with xBA of at least .490 in 5 innings, dumb

12 pitches and out for Alzolay?

I didn't get a good look, did Barnes actually tag him or did he just bump him with the forearm since he had that weird grip to hold on to the ball

love hearing my PBP guy saying "you and I are gonna fight"

It's been a long while, but Amaya hit well in his limited first exposure to AA and he's on the 40 man. Gotta wonder how long they'll keep him in Tennessee when he's running a 1.000+ OPS with near 1:1 K/BB

Seems like everyone's struggling with the lights tonight

Girardi

I would put the odds of a mid-season extension at basically zero, or at least act that way for the purposes of any deal. To that end, here's the case you could make: Ohtani is the high end arm *and* bat the Cubs are currently missing. They have the current SP depth to go to the 6 man rotation Ohtani requires, and they have a mostly empty DH slot for him to have maximum impact(if Mancini starts hitting this is less relevant but only a little). Let's put this another way, if the Cubs were in contention at the deadline and traded for Rafael Devers AND Corbin Burnes, what would their championship odds look like? I'd argue they'd look as good as most teams. Even without the extension, Ohtani is buying a serious chance at a championship and that's very much something. The question then becomes at what cost, and that's where recent trends make this more viable. Ohtani might be the unicorn that breaks the scale here, but we've seen numerous examples in recent years that rentals are not bringing tippy top prospects in return. They're bringing fringe top 100 guys or players on the upswing who may get top 100 hype after the current season. In other words, the exact meat of the Cubs prospect depth, which for the serious chance at a championship(and possible future benefits) could be worth parting with 2-3 guys of that caliber. As for those future benefits, if you're the Cubs and you are interested in signing Ohtani, there's several benefits to having him in the org. An Ohtani-led Cubs are going to be playing in front of big crowds and almost certainly meaningful postseason baseball, considering how important winning is likely to be to Ohtani in choosing a future home it would go a long way to wipe out any current view of the Cubs as non-contenders. It also gives him an up close look at the things the Cubs have been pretty good at selling already, their pitching development, clubhouse environment(complete with existing Japanese star signed for 3 more years), etc. It also lowers the uncertainty for the front office in offering absurd money to a player who they haven't gotten an up close look at and how they can help him maintain success or (somehow) find another level.

It was actually Madison with two N's and a Y, but not where you think

I have no experience across the bay, but the Caltrain line that runs all the way to Gilroy drops you off next door to the stadium and runs pretty frequently. Seems about as good as you can hope for if you're starting 50 miles away in San Jose.

Oracle Park is hard to get to? Isn't it right downtown and right next multiple train lines? I guess it's a bit of a walk from the BART but still within a mile. I've never been but I always thought of it as among the more accessible MLB parks.

In a way, the increase in contact makes the analogy a little imperfect because you now have more batted balls(and their EVs) as a result, so from a strictly EV perspective you have two linked factors(not selling out for max EV, increase in contact/batted balls at lower EVs) moving your average and median.

Patrick Dubuque with a free article on Bellinger's reinvention: https://www.baseballprospectus.com/news/article/82076/cold-takes-the-toll-taken-on-cody-bellinger/ TL;DR he has made some mechanical adjustments to try to square the ball more when he pulls it(which is essentially all the time), and is trading some power(EV/launch angle) to do so, while still doing damage on mistakes. The shift restrictions make this much more viable than it would have previously.

Smart thinking of Wrexham to pick a megaclub as an opponent so it doesn't hurt their rep too much when they inevitably get housed.

At least according to Nico, some of the singles-heavy outcome is circumstance

Horton's 4th: BB (imo he threw 4 strikes) 10 pitch BB pop up K K

He's pitching backwards and dropping breaking balls in the zone on top of throwing the fastball for strikes too.

Horton's 3rd: sawed off 4-3, K, slow roller 6-3

Horton isn't gonna be in Myrtle Beach long. 1st: K, BB, K, infield pop up 2nd: K, K, broken bat GO Broadcast claims he's hit 98

┳┻| ┻┳| ┳┻| ┻┳| ┳┻| ┻┳| •.•) Madrigal's wRC+ is higher than Morel put up last year ┳┻|⊂ﾉ

The experiments they did on moving the mound back a few years ago had pretty counter-intuitive results. I don't think it's a complete no-go to help with things, but given how much hitters struggled with timing(since the swing cues they've used their whole career are changed) and extra movement, my guess is we're closer to an equilibrium than we realize.

I think this is the most likely outcome, but I think what I meant to convey above is essentially that there's a non-trivial chance Mancini is cooked, and if/while Mancini looks cooked I think they're going to be more hesitant to pull the plug on Hosmer as long as he isn't just as bad. Granted, we're about another week from that 'just as bad' moment at current trend lines, but still a relationship I think is probably under-thought in the Mervis v. Hosmer situation.

The double hook DH would help if they don't take the easy way out and set the limit at 5 IP

hello there Patrick Wisdom sending 94 at the top of the zone about 370 feet