Fear The Chorizo

at some point the Brewers run out of games against the Reds...and at some point teams will really start pitching him differently. Saw a fantastic graphic of all pitches thrown during the ABs that ended in a Thames HR that illustrates how locked in he is currently by not swinging at bad pitches. When he's forcing pitchers to throw strikes to get him out, he's able to get a good swing more often than not. And he's crushing any mistake that he sees. It'll be interesting to see if he can keep his discipline up when he runs into better pitching that will be looking to get him to chase. He seems willing to draw walks, and if anything it looks like Korea really helped him adjust to breaking balls/offspeed. No way this can keep up to the point where he's the story in MLB all year long, but it sure is fun right now!

The sooner power conference teams and other capable D1 programs in the major revenue-generating sports (i.e. football and men's basketball) leave the NCAA and form their own organization for those sports, the better. They could team with the NFL and NBA to make conditions better for the athletes and have them be established as true development leagues - academic scholarships could still be part of their compensation and part of the recruiting draw, but they could also establish reasonable salary and benefit packages for these kids. I think this could also better set up the majority of these kids who are good enough to compete at the highest collegiate level of competition but not good enough to play in the NFL or NBA for life after playing. They could offer training programs to remain involved in the sport (coaching, scouting, marketing, PR, etc) that may not be tied directly to collegiate degrees.

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/18921310/investigation-finds-jose-fernandez-was-operating-boat-fatal-crash Probably the most unfortunate part of this story is the legal battle this will cause over Fernandez's estate and how it will impact the lives of his mother, former girlfriend and newborn daughter, not to mention the families/friends of the other two killed that night.

The only way I'm for raising the strike zone 2" is if the entire zone is raised 2" and there's a true "high strike" consistently called. I'm indifferent on the intentional walk thing, because it really doesn't save much time during the game - and having to throw those 4 pitches can lead to passed balls or an errant 60mph lob ending up over the plate and enticing a hitter to take a swing.

Door A - 8 Brewer playoff appearances in the next 10 years, with 4 division titles, 4 Wild Cards. Team generally finishes 3rd to 5th in terms of record in the NL. Team does not significantly borrow from the future to acquire rental pieces, but may for longer-term players (think Chris Sale rather than Sabathia or even Zack Grienke). I took a look at the MLB postseason participants from 2006-2016 - not a single organization made the playoffs 8 times during that stretch, with the closest being the Yankees, Dodgers, and Cards with 7. Door A is completely unrealistic for baseball's smallest market, so let's just cross that one off right now. The simple answer is that Brewers' management shouldn't follow anyone else's model, because their situation is unique. They need to bring in talent from any possible options provided it makes financial sense to the longterm health of the organization. $ will always be the problem for the Brewers, no matter how much we wish it isn't. That's what we get for being fans of a perpetual underdog playing in a league with vast financial discrepancies based on a combination of market sizes and owner's pocketbooks. Melvin did a great job of maximizing the last window of contention at the MLB level - organizations go through ebbs and flows of farm system strength independent of how they build their MLB roster due to how fickle prospect development can be with even the best minor league tutelage. I think the one thing the Brewers absolutely have to do is overhaul their minor league development/instructional staff to try and do everything possible to maximize production out of their homegrown young, cost-controlled talent. An extra million added to the budget at the instructional levels for facilities and prized staff salaries goes alot further than bumping the MLB payroll by 10 million to add a #5 starter, IMO.

Braun had the 5th highest OPS among outfielders in all of MLB last season - his contract is actually team-friendly based on his current AND projected production, and he entered this offseason for the first time in recent memory healthy and without some injury/ailment that was going to require rest/rehab or even surgery. Unless Stearns gets a haul from a team that Braun either can't veto a trade to or is willing to go, he'll be the opening day left fielder for the Brewers in 2017 and there won't be another team with a better offensive everyday left fielder in all of baseball. He'd anchor a lineup that will have a ton of moving parts until position battles and roles are sorted out, which is pretty much what the 2017 season appears to be meant for. Barring injury, I don't see his value being much different at the trade deadline or even next offseason compared to what it is now considering waiting a bit longer to truly put Braun on the market would mean the amount of guaranteed $ left on his contract would be lower.

The best way for a small market team that isn't picking at the top of every draft to do this is to draft high school talent - yes, collegiate impact bats and arms are more MLB-ready and tend to carry less risk of flaming out once they turn pro, but having a solid scouting staff that can identify high schoolers in the top 100 picks who would be top 5 selections should they go to college and get drafted 3 years later is the way to approach a draft, IMO. Trades can bring TOR or Franchise hitters to the big league club, but for a small market team it takes a farm system loaded with talent AND depth to make that a good option. Free agency for this caliber of player should be avoided by small market clubs, since most of the time you're paying top dollar for a player that will age beyond his prime during that contract.

Slippery slope - In this day and age, what does "dressing like a woman" even mean without being offensive? There's probably a faction of people who are offended by the assumption of "dressing like a woman" means wearing a dress and heels. What about all the innocent animals killed to make leather gloves? Isn't it bullying to force a player from another country to wear uniforms/hats commemorating military veterans and national independence, particularly if they are from a country who fought the USA during a war? Chief Wahoo, anyone? I guess I was not aware of the anti-costume movement among the general public that demanded this action be taken - sometimes you can do more harm than good trying to appease a perceived faction of people when they either don't exist or aren't acutely concerned about the issue you're attempting to solve. I think there is value in promoting the anti-hazing/bullying narrative, mainly to put a spotlight on lower levels of the game where it's actually dangerous and can get out of hand with kids(collegiate, high school, etc). But, I think there's a better way to promote that narrative than banning what amounts to themed halloween parties among teammates. There needs to be more outreach by MLB than them simply stating they want to get rid of the goofy pics of players in costumes that surface on social media from time to time...

Eaton as a corner OF was fantastic defensively last season - Eaton as a CF was good enough to be shifted to a corner OF spot even though his offensive production projects that he should be playing CF. His surge in WAR came entirely from the defensive side of things, and was entirely attributable to the position switch. yes, he's got years of team control built into a reasonable contract, but this trade may not work out too well for the Nats if Eaton gets put back in center and runs into the same defensive issues that led to him switching positions with the White Sox.

1 - trade Santana and Brinson to the A's for Khris Davis 2 - Sign Justin Masterson, Travis Wood, and Trevor Cahill 3 - Sign Matt Joyce ...or you could just continue the rebuilding process that's only been implemented for about 1 year that likely focuses on the Brewers starting to go after the Cubs and Cardinals come 2018. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

The Cubs won this series because they didn't have to resort to running out their best starting pitchers repeatedly on short rest - they had 4 starters they were confident in giving them quality starts....helps that 3 of them included last year's Cy Young winner (Arrieta) and two of this years Cy Young frontrunners (Lester, Hendricks), plus a veteran with tons of postseason experience in Lester. Having one true ace isn't enough to ensure postseason success - the Cubs had arguably 3 in their postseason rotation. They also had the luxury of finishing the last 6 or so weeks of the regular season with a 6-man rotation, giving their key starters plenty of rest instead of being forced to ride them hard just to make the playoffs. For a team like Milwaukee to field the type of rotation needed to win 7 game series, they need 1-2 pre-free agency studs (drafted or acquired), and one #2 caliber or better free agent starter. Again, to reference the Cubs, NONE of the pitchers on their World Series roster were initially signed/drafted by the Cubs' organization - ALL were acquired via trade or free agency. I'd argue the 2016 Cub blueprint is much like what the Brewers did in 2008-2011, only without any payroll restraints or concerns about losing quality players they can no longer afford/replace...be bad long enough to draft impact bats that cost peanuts before they reach free agency, build your rotation and bullpen via trades & spending $ in free agency.

Anyone else notice last night that TMobile sponsored the middle/bottom of the 9th, and they didn't go to commercial break? I actually loved it because it kept the broadcast around while Fox ran a little blurb about both teams' histories and let Smoltz have a bit more time to break down some of the previous at bats that got the game to that point tied at 6. It also felt faster than a standard commercial break - I think MLB needs to look into doing this on a regular basis, and include the 7th and 8th innings as "commercial free". They can still have sponsors but will keep the broadcast going - heck, they can even throw it to the studio for some of the other talking heads to weigh in on how the game is going or breaking down a key play/situation.

I am bitter with the outcome, but what a great game...

Hendricks hasn't made a road start since late september. While still good, hendricks' 2.95 era in road starts was about 1.5 runs higher than his home era. Still can't believe chapman was used last night, because the cubs are going to need the pen before the 5th as long as the home plate ump doesn't have a pitcher friendly zone. Cleveland gets to hendricks tonight and the cubs get into their pen early...Wouldn't be surprised to see lackey in super early if hendricks isnt effective. Meanwhile Kluber gives them 6 solid innings before miller and Allen get the rest and give the Indians the title.

To me you can't limit number of pickoff throws, but I think you can limit the number of times a pitcher steps off the rubber just to basically call time, or be more stringent on ranting time to a hitter once they get in the batters box. There definitely needs to be a limit on mound visits/conferences. I think 1 per inning per pitcher is allowable if it doesn't involve a coach from the dugout.

Where is the issue with any of that? The pace of the game changes when guys are on base. Making any changes could severely hamper things for the defense. Edit: Unless you want to make it so no one can steal bases. Actually let's go with that. If pitchers don't have to go into the stretch or worry about guys stealing then that would speed up the pace of play. That 1 AB took 7 minutes and 10 seconds...if every AB took that long we'd be talking about a 6.5 hour game. That is ridiculous

The World Series killed the NFL in ratings last night and that game was two huge markets and national teams in Dallas and Philadelphia. while it's impressive based on TV ratings history, you're comparing what amounts to the super bowl of all super bowl games for the MLB World Series (Weekend night game at Wrigley, possible title-clinching game against the team with a 108-yr title drought fighting for its life) against a Week 8 NFL regular season game. If MLB doesn't win that ratings battle against the NFL, they're basically hockey. The NFL ratings are suffering due to several factors to begin with, combine that with what is truly a unique world series with the Cubs in it (where just as many people tune in hoping to see them lose as do hoping to see them win), and you're going to have those type of ratings. For a different comparison, Super Bowl 50 this past February drew a 49 rating compared to last night's 15.3 rating that WS game 5 drew. The NFL is still the TV ratings king, and while they are suffering this year they still lead by a wide margin.

There are a number of ways the game could be sped up...just don't expect that eliminating a source of revenue is one of them. You must have missed the part of my post indicating MLB should seek out advertisers to "sponsor" the 7-9th innings commercial free - there would be tons of time for short ads/reads for a sponsor or TV network during that part of the game for plugs. I doubt MLB would lose much revenue at all, in fact it would probably make all the commercial spots in earlier innings more valuable.

The driver of the boat at the time of the crash was one of the two were recovered beneath it - the other one (not Fernandez, most likely Macias - the friend of his other friend with him who he just met hours earlier) was recovered on the other side of the jetty after presumably being ejected from the front of it when it crashed, at full speed nonetheless. Anyone who's been on a 30-ish foot sport fishing boat going 50 mph knows that having a phone conversation while driving it is basically impossible, and even doing so while riding up at the bow is probably not worth attempting due to the noise of the boat engine and even the air whipping past you. Seating on that type of boat would basically have Fernandez and one other person both sitting with direct access to the wheel, throttle/controls, and navigation system. An impaired Fernandez was either driving or giving directions to the driver of a boat going full speed at 3am. The jetty they struck apparently has had multiple crashes - just none that led to significant injuries or fatalities because speeds of the other boats were nowhere near as fast as what Kaught Looking was traveling when it struck the rocks. Very likely the person who heard Fernandez giving directions while on the phone call witnessed something that happened while the boat was either idled or moving at a slow rate while they were trying to figure out direction/bearings. After Fernandez would've gotten off the call, he could have started piloting the boat almost instantly - we're not talking a 50' yacht with a separate wheelhouse and living quarters. Unless the witness was on the phone with Fernandez while the crash happened, it doesn't really shed any light on who ultimately was driving at that time - frankly it doesn't matter, because if he was the only one on the boat familiar with how to interpret the navigation system and jetty lighting/markers, someone behind the wheel without that knowledge doesn't have the experience to know what good judgement even is. And unless Fernandez entrusted boat piloting duties to Macias, a guy he didn't know prior to that night, both Fernandez and Rivero had cocaine in their system - meaning both likely drivers/navigators were impaired.

Last night's game highlighted several items for me that should be addressed, and I think they're low-hanging fruit - I don't think they happen as often during regular season games compared to postseason, but they would be timesavers nonetheless... a catcher is only allowed 1 trip to the mound during an inning to converse with the pitcher - seems like every time a guy got on 2nd last night, or seemingly every other batter while Chapman was pitching, that Contreras came out to talk to him or a catcher had to run out to remind a pitcher what the signs were. those delays don't count the same as a pitching coach or manager's trip to the mound where more than 1 of those per inning forces a pitching change. a pitcher is only allowed one instance per batter where they can step off the rubber once they toe it. Again, it seemed like Chapman stepped off the rubber multiple times per batter, mainly due to what seemed like difficulty agreeing on signs with Contreras - then he'd get back on the rubber and the hitter would call time because either they weren't ready when Chapman came set or to simply mess with him. hitters are only allowed to call time once during an at bat - seemed like both teams have certain counts or situations where they'll intentionally ask for time to try and disrupt a pitcher's timing. There were times last night when 2 minutes went past between pitches. Kill the 7th inning stretch, unless it can be performed during the normal routine between half innings - as an aside I really hope someone in the Cub organization finally puts the celebrity 'take me out to the ballgame' shtick out of its misery...but why show that 3 minute spectacle only to then go to the normal commercial break on top of it? I've mentioned it before and I'll repeat it again - I think MLB should take a long look at avoiding going to commercial break after the 6th inning ends - there will still be delays with pitching changes and half inning breaks, but I think those take about the alotted time a typical commercial break is only because they know they have that long. Find advertisers to sponsor the 7-9th innings commercial-free, put a clock on pitching changes or half-inning breaks, and I bet games get shortened 15 minutes on average even during the regular season. If a game goes to extras, they could revert back to traditional commercial breaks between half innings.

If the series needs to go back to cleveland, theres an off day for travel...miller has shown no signs of being too fatigued to be effective pitching a third game in a row if needed tonight. It's the world series and they rode him to get to this point. ..no use stopping now, and their closer didn't pitch last night, so he could probably go more than 1 inning if necessary tonight.

The reason people would have voted for him would've been primarily for sentimental reasons...those reasons now don't look as lily white as they did a month or so ago I agree he shouldn't win it in 2016 due to on field performance compared to other pitchers in the running, but I bet he has better than a 50-50 chance to win it based on what is now a misleading perception of his character

Recent information from toxicology reports indicate Fernandez had cocaine in his system and his BAC was almost twice the legal limit at the time of his death. They keep saying nobody is sure who was driving the boat at the time of the accident, although it was his boat, Fernandez was seen driving it when it left the last bar/club they were seen at, and the other two men on it had little to no boating experience. Looking now like he made a series of terrible decisions that ultimately led to him killing himself and two friends - suddenly the tribute the Marlins did for him, while touching, is a lot less poignant when its focus is on a guy whose selfish decisions cost the lives of two others. And those decisions prevented his yet to be born child from knowing his/her biological father. Guessing if Cy Young voting has already been closed that alot of writers are wishing they could get a redo if they voted for him.

After watching last night's WS game, I am even more in favor of automated ball strike calls....Hendricks was getting extra inches in each corner while Tomlin was getting squeezed on the outer corner and low. GREAT game that the Indians actually could have had better opportunities for runs had Hendricks actually been forced to throw strikes. Inconsistent zone depending on which team is pitching raises questions on intentional bias trying to sway outcomes...the fact the automated graphics on broadcasts now can confirm one team is getting squeezed and the other is getting breaks should help drive that point home.

I think I'm on board with the automated ball/strike calls - however I'm left wondering how that new system can also be potentially gamed or not be as good for the game as what most think... Right now I would guess the umps call more strikes than what are actually pitched, meaning they err on the side of pitchers by giving an extra few inches on the corners or sticking with a low strike. I feel these pitches get call strikes more frequently than high strikes get called balls, since most pitchers tend to want to live on the corners and low in the zone. If things go automated, I would forsee an uptick in walks, more runs scored, and in general longer games. I also think about the games being played under threat of rain or generally miserable weather, where the umpire is obviously giving a larger strike zone than normal to try and speed up the game. There would be no flexibility with the automated system and while that's good on paper, maybe dealing with unnecessary rain delays or 4 hour games played in 35-degree weather is actually worse. Finally, I can see a Cardinals-type team messing with the system in their home park, recalibrating it to their advantage by a millimeter or two depending on whether they are hitting or in the field. I'm sure human bias exists for umpires depending on teams playing, but I'd rather deal with human bias than potential tampering with technology by teams. All in all, I think it would be a great idea for MLB to give it a trial run for a small but analyzable sampling of games for a season (maybe 10%) to see how those games are played compared to human element homeplate umpiring. I think that study would be even more significant if the only people who knew what games were being called via the automated technology were the homeplate umpires.