Random MLB News And Discussion 2013

[Baldkin]

If he's not coming back till the All star game why not put him on the 60 day DL?

 

I don't think they gain anything from putting him on the 60 initially, so it's just standard procedure to start with the 15 day DL and iteratively add days as necessary

 

They gain the spot on the 40 man.

[craigharmann]

Yu pitching well......

 

Edit: VERY well....No-no/perfecto through 8 2/3

 

SO CLOSE!!! Back through the wickets into center.

[SenatorShriv]

To have the ball bounce between your own legs to loss the perfect game has to be frustrating!

[dlk9s]

To have the ball bounce between your own legs to loss the perfect game has to be frustrating!

It's like the one time you want to take a high hop to the nards.

[trwi7]

Rays apologize for this sign.

 

[Patrick425]

A few interesting items I have noticed in this first week:

 

- Only one undefeated (and one winless) team after 3 games in MLB. Be interesting to find out the last time that happened.

 

- Roy Halliday did not have a very good first outing. However, I found it interesting that 9 of the 10 outs he was able to record before being removed were strikeouts.

 

edit: Also, and I know this is not a MLB item but I could not find a random news thread in the minors forum (and did not want to start one), but anyone catch Cincinnati minor league pitcher Tony Cingrani's performance last night? 14 Ks in 6 innings!

[TheCrew07]

edit: Also, and I know this is not a MLB item but I could not find a random news thread in the minors forum (and did not want to start one), but anyone catch Cincinnati minor league pitcher Tony Cingrani's performance last night? 14 Ks in 6 innings!

 

All division prospect reports are contained within the Link Report.

[TooLiveBrew]

edit: Also, and I know this is not a MLB item but I could not find a random news thread in the minors forum (and did not want to start one), but anyone catch Cincinnati minor league pitcher Tony Cingrani's performance last night? 14 Ks in 6 innings!

 

All division prospect reports are contained within the Link Report.

And since TheCrew07 won't say it about himself, I will. He does an absolutely stellar job reporting on prospects around the league, and especially within the NL Central.

[Warning Track Power]

Chris Davis of the Orioles has 16 RBI in the Orioles four games. By contrast, the Marlins have scored 1 run total in 3 games. Wow.

[hawing]

In the Reds' rout of Washington Friday night, Manny Parra pitched two scoreless innings and was 1-for-2 at the plate. Box Score

[Thurston Fluff]

In a little Brewer related irony Dave Bush got called up from the minors. He is taking the place of Jeremy Jeffress.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/jose-bautista-sits-again-blue-164432896--mlb.html

[trwi7]

Eric Wedge had Kelly Shoppach attempt to sacrifice bunt in the 5th inning with a 1-0 lead. He failed.

[mothershipconnection]

This brings back painful memories of some really sad years of the Brewers and their awful teams.

 

The Marlins starting lineup tomorrow

Pierre

Coghlan

Stanton

Polanco

Brantly

Solano

Kotchman

Hechavarria

Nolasco

 

Not pretty at all.

 

Brewers projected lineup today:

 

Aoki, RF

Gomez, CF

Segura, SS

Weeks, 2B

Gonzalez, 3B

Schafer, LF

Betancourt, 1B

Maldonado, C

Gallardo, P

 

At least we have our best-hitting pitcher in the lineup.

[Eye Black]

Jose Fernandez is actually the starting pitcher in that Marlins lineup today. Not often you see a pitcher go from Single A to the majors.

[ecjimg]

In a little Brewer related irony Dave Bush got called up from the minors. He is taking the place of Jeremy Jeffress.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/jose-bautista-sits-again-blue-164432896--mlb.html

 

And Dave Bush is still Dave Bush - 2 home runs given up in first 2 innings

 

 

Make that 4 hrs in 3 innings. Wow

[trwi7]

If you want to see the first awful call of the season that a monkey would have gotten right, go check out the strike 3 call on Ben Zobrist to end the game last night.

[owbc]

Despite calls like that, a large fraction of MLB fans, perhaps the majority, still prefer no change in how balls and strikes are called. In the meantime, both professional tennis and cricket have been using effective review systems for years that work similar to how an MLB ball/strike challenge could be implemented.

 

Maybe something will change after Selig is gone, but most likely the new commissioner will just keep the same policy. You would think the umpires would prefer a system that prevents them from getting harassed over calls like this.

[Gobias Industries]

Wow. I'm speechless. It was practically in the dirt.

 

I just made the mistake of clicking on ESPN's scoreboard and a video blog came up with Buster Olney. Not only does it not show the play; instead relying on Olney describing it, it leads off with him saying "give homeplate Marty Foster credit for admitting he made a mistake..."

 

Yup. That's the first thing I'm gonna do. Give the idiot who made the call credit. Moron.

[Patrick425]

Some have argued for an automated strike/ball call. However, I feel if they did this and calibrated it to the strike zone as defined by MLB rules hitters and pitchers would have a lot of adjusting to do, especially when it comes to the upper part of the strike zone:

 

Rule 2.00: The Strike Zone

The STRIKE ZONE is that area over home plate the upper limit of which is a horizontal line at the midpoint between the top of the shoulders and the top of the uniform pants, and the lower level is a line at the hollow beneath the kneecap. The Strike Zone shall be determined from the batter's stance as the batter is prepared to swing at a pitched ball.

 

From what I observe, it seems that umpires rarely call anything that is two inches or more above the belt line a strike. By this definition the upper line of the strike zone would fall roughly just below the letters.

[trwi7]

You can always change the definition of the strike zone.

[jerichoholicninja]

If that call is made at any point other than the last out of the game it barely gets noticed.

[owbc]

Judging by the pitch tracker on MLB.tv, the umpires follow the zone very closely. They are also generally accurate with borderline calls. They just occasionally get fooled and make mistakes. It's not that hard to adjust the computer's zone for each hitter.

 

Almost nobody wants every pitch reviewed by a computer (although I would argue that having an "MLB Gameday" type interface on the scoreboard would be really cool). All they need to do is give each team something like 3-5 challenges per game--if there is a challenge, the umpire signals to the press box and someone presses a button to display the result on the scoreboard. The whole process would take 20 seconds. If they only have a few challenges per game, they will only be used for important calls. I have no idea why anyone would be opposed to a system like that, assuming the technology works properly.

[Patrick425]

I can't imagine the thought process of someone who does something like this:

 

goat's head delivered to Wrigley

[trwi7]

Attendance at Marlins games. Well done, Loria.

 

http://deadspin.com/photos-marlins-park-is-satisfyingly-empty-472406862

[Ennder]

The strike zone thing is a bit of a gray area. In tennis you just want to get the call right and there is no skill involved in anything. In baseball one of the most important skills for a C is framing pitches and adjusting to how the ump is calling the game and with a computer strike zone you remove that completely.