2013 MLB Discussion

Biases aside, there is not one sane person that would rank the Trop in the top 20, probably top 25, of Major League Ballparks. It's just not cosmetically appealing to any baseball fan, no matter where you're from. And this has absolutely nothing to do with the Rays at all. 

 
Hoping the A's can pull off the win on Thursday but I'm not optimistic since they haven't had great success against Verlander. Game 4 should have been won and they blew it so if they lose game 5, I think they'll look back to game 4. My guess is Melvin might go with Sonny Gray for game 5 instead of Colon.

 
To be fair, those playoff stats are a bit skewed. Koji was awful in 2011 and shouldn't have even been on the roster against Tampa Bay and Wash used him in situations that he didn't need to be used in. But in 2012, something changed and that ultimately lead to where he is now. And to think that this dude only had aspirations of being a teacher before he decided to come play in America.

 
DNukem170 said:
Because people really, really wanted the Pirates in the World Series.
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I didn't! I want Gerrit Cole to be affordable in fantasy drafts next year.

Same reason why I hope the A's are bounced tonight. Sonny Gray is another of my favorites.

I am a terrible person and scourge of the baseball realm.

 
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Well the A's are out. I'm starting to get tired of all of the ALDS exits whenever they reach the playoffs. Regarding the final teams remaining, I'll probably be skipping out on watching the WS again this year like I did last year.None of the potential match ups intrigue me enough to keep my attention and to keep me watching mlb. Time for some Golden Gate basketball!
 
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Thank you Carlos Beltran!!....and for everyone crying that Molina didn't tag Ellis they need to just calm down.  You could have a 100 different umpires call that play and 101 of them would have called him out.

 
DNukem170 said:
Umpire Wally Bell has passed away at the age of 48.
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I heard that while listening to the Cardinals games today! 48 is really young and the guy just worked the Cardinals/Pirates series!

I did read that the guy had a history of heart problems, so it's probably not a huge shock, but it's still really sad for his family.

 
That was a crazy way to end the NLCS... I expected the Cardinals to win the series, but I wasn't expecting a 9-0 finish.  :whee:

It will be interesting to see who they face in the World Series. I would be totally fine if the Red Sox and Tigers take it to a game seven.

 
Great game by the birds!!  Good to see some guys who have been struggling at the plate get some big hits too.  Hopefully it carries on into the World Series.

 
CaseyRyback said:
This is why people hate Boston sports fans. Instead of just being happy, you kick dirt on someone who didn't get a fair shake at the job.
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I don't like Bobby Valentine in general. Never have, never will. I didn't like it when the Red Sox hired him, and I was glad when they fired him. He doesn't strike me as a good manager, and the fact that everyone was praising the decision last year when he was hired as some sort of automatic pass to the World Series makes me question the sports knowledge of anyone who thought it would be the case. And as a side note, the Red Sox are the only Boston sports franchise that I am a fan of. I hate the Bruins, have a general distaste of the Patriots, and I am apathetic about the Celtics because I am not really a fan of basketball.

I guess if I felt sorry for anyone it would be Blue Jays fans because we bought their manager. :S

 
He's not even worth half of that contract. His past two years have been terrible and his fastball velocity have steadily dropped every year.

 
There's actually glimmers of hope with Lincecum. His contact rate last season was 74.4%. In 2009 it was 74.9%. 74.1% in 2008. His zone% has dipped a few points from his peak.

Put simply, he's as unhittable as ever. He's just falling behind in more counts, which leads to more pitches over the plate. Coupled with his reduced velocity, that means harder contact (when it's made). If the Giants pitching coach looks at this info, it's literally as simple as telling Lincecum 'just throw it over the plate for strike 1 and go from there'.

 
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He had a 68 ERA+ and 76 ERA+ the last two years with a -1.7 bWAR and -0.6 bWAR in those years (though fangraphs has him at 2.5 WAR over that span). So there is a lot more there than just throwing a first pitch strike. That's pretty much the plan for almost every single starting pitcher. The fact is that he is getting paid 17.5 million dollars for the next two years after coming off two extremely  horrible seasons. Couple that with him entering his 30s soon and his fastball velocity on a steady decline, I can't see him breaking 5 WAR over the next two seasons. 

Though his FIP and xFIP numbers might suggest he is still a decent pitcher, but not a 17+ million dollar a year pitcher. 

 
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Sorry for the double post!

What do you guys predict for this world series?

I'm going to say Red Sox in 6 with Koji Uehara winning the MVP. 

 
First inning and a ump has already blown a routine call, haha.

EDIT: It was reversed and rightly so.

 
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FloodyFloats said:
What does everyone think about the substance in Lesters glove?
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Not really sure what it was, but aside from the Cards stinking up the place, I'd say it was cheating.

You don't have to go to the specific videos being posted either. You can clearly see on the ESPN replays/highlights, that he goes to that part of the glove in at least one occasion to grab whatever he had.

I'm not a Cards or Sox fan, but if it's not meant to be on your glove then don't put it there...cheating for me.

 
What does everyone think about the substance in Lesters glove?



If he was oh well. The cards couldn't win last night if he was or wasnt using something. Not with the way they were playing last night. Hell I don't even think they could have won if they were cheating as well and this is coming from a cards fan.
 
GhostShark said:
He had a 68 ERA+ and 76 ERA+ the last two years with a -1.7 bWAR and -0.6 bWAR in those years (though fangraphs has him at 2.5 WAR over that span). So there is a lot more there than just throwing a first pitch strike. That's pretty much the plan for almost every single starting pitcher. The fact is that he is getting paid 17.5 million dollars for the next two years after coming off two extremely horrible seasons. Couple that with him entering his 30s soon and his fastball velocity on a steady decline, I can't see him breaking 5 WAR over the next two seasons.

Though his FIP and xFIP numbers might suggest he is still a decent pitcher, but not a 17+ million dollar a year pitcher.
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Hitters are swinging and swinging and missing at the exact same rate as they were in his peak, 2008 and 2009. So, while his velocity is down from those years, he still has some of the very best swing and miss stuff of all starters in baseball. What is different from those years is his first strike percentage (down slightly) and his zone percentage (down several points). This means he's getting more swings and misses in 2-1 or 3-1 counts instead of 1-2 or 2-2 counts, leading to more walks and fewer strikeouts. In Lincecum's case, it really is as simple as getting strike one/throwing more strikes in general.

Him actually throwing more strikes is another issue.

 
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He was cheating. It's Major League Baseball. Everybody cheats and has cheated for more than a century.

In the future, think of any player taking the field as cheating in some way.
 
We do this 2 or 3 times a year whenever someone decides to bring up pitchers putting rosin or sunscreen or anything else on their hand to improve their grip.  Everyone who knows thing one about baseball knows that the majority of pitchers do this, and yet it's still treated like some gigantic controversy every time. 

 
On an unrelated note...

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When I saw that the other night I fell over laughing.  That was also the time the I had hoped that the Cards wouldn't win that game.  After seeing that they didn't deserve to win that night.

 
What a finish. Pissed off that they play 9 innings of hard-fought ball to finish on that note.

However, I believe this may induce the Sox to play even harder the next few games.

GO SOX.

 
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