LouisEly

PIT now 8 back and staring down a 6-game West Coast road trip with 3 @LAD then 3 @SDP. They finish with 10 of 13 on the road with the only 3 at home vs MIL. STL about to embark on a 8/9 to 9/8 stretch with all but one series against teams with winning records.

Stole this from another board, but it was just too good not to share. From Drew Magary, formerly of Deadspin, now at Defector: In each of the past three years, the Vikings have had a late-season game against Green Bay that had major playoff implications. They lost those games by a combined score of 111-37. On national television.

Every party needs a pooper

I could be wrong, but is this the first comment about Rea in what is one helluva start so far?

In football most players kind of know they're not going to be playing much their first two years. But that gives the helmet schools two years to figure out which recruits are going to pan out, and they get 20 more recruits to figure that out with.

I thought this was going to happen a year ago, so I went heavy on bonds when the 10-year was 4.5%+. Took a while, but that's finally paying off. Or, at least mitigating the other stuff.

I think it's a matter of semantics. Some people interpret "not bad" as "well". "Not bad" is not "well". It's "not bad". There's "bad", there's "well", and there's a space in between that is neither. Some people think seven singles is "knocked around"; others think singles are as much luck as anything.

The Diamondbacks should have traded for relievers.

Let's hope this is the start of a hot streak for Contreras.

If we're judging based on one game, he pitched better than the Cardinals starter acquisition did today. And the Nationals score more runs per game than the Cubs do.

Pitch usage is a very legitimate reason. As I posted before, his cutter is -6.9 runs above average, by far his worst pitch. Guess what pitch he threw to Abrams for the home run? Yeah, whoever is calling pitches, maybe not call his worst pitch against an All-Star with a runner on base?

Because their pitchers have given up the 6th most runs per game in all of baseball?

Because an All-Star and former top-10 prospect in all of baseball hit a home run?

Fangraphs has Montas' cutter at -6.9 runs above average, by far his worst pitch. Maybe not call cutters?

97.6 on that heater. Batter better call timeout after that.

True. I also remember that nobody thought that Pratt or Bitonti would sign for under $2M each ($1.35M and $1.75M respectively). I also remember the Boeve pick getting somewhat panned.

None of us know what happened with that. He could have changed his mind. Maybe he met a hot girl at Wake Forest on a visit and things escalated. Pretty ladies have caused many a young man to change his mind about things (and make bad decisions).

I assume you mean "does not". I think that's more because there just wasn't as much talent available in this year's draft class. It was widely considered a weak draft class. They don't get less bonus to spend because it's a weaker class. I have no issue with parlaying #67 into #68 next year if that's a stronger class. It will have to be a college pick or underslot HS player, but that's what Knoth and Boeve were.

The Brewers spent within $200 of their alloted pool and we're crucifying them because they didn't spend their overage (which is taxed). They left $580K on the table. Whoop-dee-doo. That's not going to make any difference in their draft class.

He's about to turn 28 years old and his OPS has been declining every year. He is what he is going to be - a .700 OPS DH. Not any more valuable than a 4.90 FIP starting pitcher.

$200 amortized over five years is $40 per year or $3.33/month. Yes, I think people can be forced to do things that cost $3.33 per month. They already are. Plenty of regulation out there that costs people money that are for the betterment of society. Look at all of the fees on your phone, internet, gas, and electric bill - you're forced to pay those. And your energy companies can spend money on renewable resources and force you to pay for that. Anything your municipality does whether you want them to or not you pay for in taxes; it's required and costs you money, but it's for the betterment of society. Cities require you to remove snow from your sidewalk (so mail and limited-mobility people can pass) and will fine you if you don't or don't cut your grass/mitigate weeds (spread to other yards). Stop lights/signs decrease fuel efficiency, but they exist for the betterment of society. It was originally said half tongue-in-cheek anyway, glad you got all worked up over it. And half the reason that rechargeable batteries wear down and need to be replaced is because people don't know how to charge them properly - they leave them on the charger all the time (instead of charging them until they are full and then taking them off) and then run them all the way down. (Technically they should charge them to 95% and run down to 5-10% for maximum battery life.) Some people work from home full-time and have neighboring lots 5 feet from their window.

Might have been the plan, but Megill, Hudson, and Zastryzny going on the IL may have squashed that plan. I'm glad they didn't make any big trades. Not the year to go all-in. If Yelich was healthy, if there was a chance Woodruff could make it back this season, if Gasser wasn't out for the year, I might feel differently, but seems like this is a year to just sneak in and see if they can get lucky. Maybe the Phils and Dodgers will have a couple of key arms go down for the year.

Cost isn't the point. It's about noise pollution.

The Pirates next five series are against teams with winning records including a 6-game West Coast road trip at LAD and SDP. Their next series against a team with a losing record is at TEX Aug 19-21; TEX only traded off Lorenzen (FIP > Montas), still have Scherzer, Eovaldi, Heaney, Yates, Robertson, Leclerc, and just got Josh Jung back from the IL (and has a 1.305 OPS so far). We'll find out if they're for real or not. PIT needs to make a big run now because they close the season with 10 of 13 on the road with the only 3 home games against MIL and the last 3 at NYY. The Cardinals started July six games back of MIL and despite MIL going 11-13 they only gained one game. I don't think their fans are super excited about their chances and the way they're playing either. They have a stretch from 8/9 to 9/8 where they only play one team with a losing record (3 at CIN who hates them as much as the Brewers). We'll find out what they're really made of too.