2021 MLB Thread

[shadow_operative2.0 16276]

Fucking ouch, 7 in top 9.

Cashman just said all this yesterday... 

Quote

Yankees general manager Brian Cashman isn't beating around the bush about the performance of the Bronx Bombers.

"We suck right now," Cashman said ahead of Tuesday's game against the Los Angeles Angels at Yankee Stadium, one ultimately won by New York, 11-5. "As bad as we can be."

However, for the third time this season, Cashman offered support behind manager Aaron Boone and the coaching staff.

"This is not an Aaron Boone problem," Cashman said. "This is not a coaching staff problem."

Cashman shifted the blame away from Boone toward himself.

"It's easy from my chair to say, 'Let me throw something overboard to just satisfy the masses.' It's harder to actually stick with what you've got because you believe in it," he said. "These people care. They're working their ass off. They're really good at what they do. We're not getting the results. I'm the head of baseball operations. That's more on me than them."

The Yankees broke a four-game skid Tuesday, one that included a three-game sweep by the Boston Red Sox and Monday night's loss to the Angels. The 41-38 Yankees are in fourth place in the American League East, 7 1/2 games behind the first-place Red Sox. Cashman said the team could be a seller rather than a buyer at the trade deadline if its performance fails to turn around.

Owner Hal Steinbrenner has not been happy with the team's struggles so far this year, Cashman said. The Yankees currently boast the second-largest payroll in the sport at $142,556,795 behind the top-spending Los Angeles Dodgers at $215,958,616.

"Everybody is frustrated by this," Cashman said. "Anybody who cares about this franchise, no one cares bigger than the owner because they've invested in it. It's a legacy, and he's not getting what he deserves and what he paid for. So he's frustrated as well."

[henrygandorf 29228]

5 hours ago, Gourmand said:

  Reveal hidden contents

A domestic violence restraining order filed against Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer and executed on June 28 includes multiple graphic images from the woman who filed the request. The woman, in the 67-page ex-parte document, said that Bauer assaulted her on two different occasions. Together, the woman said those two incidents included Bauer punching her in the face, vagina, and buttocks, sticking his fingers down her throat, and strangling her to the point where she lost consciousness multiple times.

The alleged assaults described by the woman, which are extremely graphic in nature, happened during what she said began as consensual sexual encounters between the two. According to the woman’s declaration attached to the request and obtained by The Athletic, she suffered injuries as a result of the second encounter, including two black eyes, a bloodied swollen lip, significant bruising and scratching to one side of her face. In the woman’s declaration, signed under penalty of perjury of California state laws, she said that her medical notes state that she had “significant head and facial trauma” and that there were signs of basilar skull fracture.

She also said that, in one of those incidents, while unconscious, Bauer penetrated her anally, which she did not consent to in advance.

“I agreed to have consensual sex; however, I did not agree or consent to what he did next,” she says. “I did not agree to be sexually assaulted.”

An ex parte is a temporary restraining order that does not grant the other party an ability to respond. The accused is notified of the allegations and given a formal hearing — in Bauer’s case, scheduled for July 23 — and opportunity to respond to refute any of the allegations. Bauer’s camp confirmed they plan to take part in the hearing. No formal charges have been filed.

Reached by The Athletic on Wednesday, and presented with a request for comment regarding the ex-parte document, Bauer’s camp declined further comment, and deferred to the statement made on Tuesday night by Bauer’s agent, Jon Fetterolf.

That statement reads: “Mr. Bauer had a brief and wholly consensual sexual relationship initiated by [the woman] beginning in April 2021. We have messages that show [her] repeatedly asking for ‘rough’ sexual encounters involving requests to be ‘choked out’ and slapped in the face.

“In both of their encounters, [the woman] drove from San Diego to Mr. Bauer’s residence in Pasadena, Calif. where she went on to dictate what she wanted from him sexually and he did what was asked. Following each of her only two meetings with Mr. Bauer, [the woman] spent the night and left without incident, continuing to message Mr. Bauer with friendly and flirtatious banter. In the days following their second and final encounter, [the woman] shared photos of herself and indicated that she had sought medical care for a concussion. Mr. Bauer responded with concern and confusion, and [the woman] was neither angry nor accusatory.

“Mr. Bauer and [the woman] have not corresponded in over a month and have not seen each other in over six weeks. Her basis for filing a protection order is nonexistent, fraudulent, and deliberately omits key facts, information, and her own relevant communications. Any allegations that the pair’s encounters were not 100% consensual are baseless, defamatory, and will be refuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

Bryan Freedman, the woman’s attorney, said Wednesday in a statement to The Athletic: “Without going into detail for the benefit of both my client and Mr. Bauer, the pictures evidencing the unconsented abuse do not lie. Any suggestion that she was not the victim of assault is not only false and defamatory but, in fact, perpetuates the abuse. Our client truly wants Mr. Bauer to engage in a medically appropriate therapeutic process where he can receive the treatment he needs to never act this way again. If he is willing to meaningfully participate in a process directed by appropriate professionals, it will go a long way toward allowing her to feel safe and resolving this matter. But, regardless, she cannot allow this to happen unknowingly to anyone else.”

The pair first met on Instagram and, after messaging back and forth, on April 21 the woman said she drove from San Diego to Los Angeles to meet Bauer. After conversing, they had sex which she described in the report as initially consensual, which involved Bauer asking the woman if she had ever been choked. She responded yes, “meaning that his putting his hands around my neck and applying light pressure.” She alleges Bauer then began putting his fingers down her throat in an aggressive manner to which she asked him to stop. “He stopped, but then without asking me or telling me in advance, he wrapped my hair around my neck and choked me,” the report states. “I lost consciousness.”

The woman says she did not know how long she was unconscious.

“I woke up face down on the bed, disoriented. I began realizing that he was having sex with me in my anus, which I never communicated that I wanted, nor did I consent,” the woman said in her official declaration attached to the requested order.

She said that when she used the bathroom after the encounter she was bleeding from her anus and barely able to walk, but said in her declaration “in my state at that time, I did not think Trevor was a threat to do anything against my will for the remainder of the night.” She said the following morning Bauer asked her, “You feeling a little sore this morning?” in a joking manner. She said she was taken aback that he was trying to make light of the situation and told him she didn’t enjoy when he commenced having anal sex with her. She said he seemed to understand and that she left an hour later.

The two stayed in touch. After this report was published Wednesday, Bauer’s representatives sent The Athletic screenshots of friendly messages the two exchanged between their first and second meetings discussing topics that included erotic asphyxiation and “slaps to the face.”

“We continued to communicate for the next three weeks over Instagram and text message,” the woman stated in the report. “We discussed subjects like baseball and my new job. We also communicated in a sexual nature.”

The report says on the night of May 15, 2021, Bauer invited the woman to his house again and this time asked her to agree on a safe word. About five minutes into sex, she said that he began choking her again, at which point she lost consciousness and “was unable to speak or move my body.” She says when she regained consciousness, Bauer was punching her head: “This was the first punch I felt but it is very possible that Trevor had already been punching and scratching the right side of my face while I was unconscious. Trevor then punched me hard with a closed fist to the left side of my jaw, the left side of my head, and both cheekbones. I remember this vividly and it was extremely startling and painful. I was absolutely frozen and terrified. I could not speak or move. After punching me several times, he then flipped me back onto my stomach and began choking me with hair. I lost consciousness again.”

The woman said she had a terrible pain behind both of her ears and detailed tasting blood, as if her lip was split open. The woman said that when she regained consciousness, she was crying and shaking violently and that Bauer said to her repeatedly: “You’re safe. I’m here. You’re safe.” He began scratching her back and whispered to her, “I would never do those things to you if it wasn’t sexually.”

The woman said she told him she thought her body was having a trauma response. Bauer, the woman said, asked if she had ever been hit before. She told him she had not. She said he then told her he was going to take a shower.

The woman, who is 27 years old, provided multiple pictures as part of the request to the court. In those photos, the woman’s face is visibly bruised and swollen, including under both of her eyes. She also has a swollen jaw, bloodied lip and scratches to the side of her face.

As part of the request to the court, the woman also provided text messages and screenshots of voicemails she said Bauer sent to her inquiring about her well being and checking in with her to see what he could do; in one message, Bauer offers to deliver groceries to her. The woman also said that she underwent two medical examinations in connection with her injuries from the second encounter, including going to the emergency room at the Alvarado Hospital Medical Center in San Diego on May 16, where she said she underwent rapid CT scans for her brain, face and neck.

After telling the emergency room psychiatrist and doctor what had happened, she said she met with multiple detectives with the San Diego Police Department. According to the woman, she downplayed what had happened as “rough sex” and didn’t divulge Bauer’s name at the time because she feared the potential repercussions if the information became public.

“I was afraid what Trevor would do if he found out,” the woman said in her account. “I remain afraid that Trevor will find me and hurt me for going to the hospital.”

The woman said in her declaration she was diagnosed with an acute head injury and assault by manual strangulation, and that she is willing to share her medical notes with the court.

According to her account, the woman was then taken to another hospital, Palomar Health in Escondido, where she underwent a SART (sexual assault response team) exam by a nurse who specializes in sexual assault examinations. The woman said medical professionals photographed her entire body and that she has requested those photos.

Provided in the court request is also her account of a recorded conversation she had with Bauer at the Pasadena Police Department’s direction.

Bauer had been, according to the woman, messaging her “nonstop” since the second incident occurred, asking her if she was all right. The Pasadena police had her send a text to Bauer stating that she’d like to talk over the phone and that, in the course of that recorded phone call, she asked Bauer: “What did you do to me when I was unconscious?”

Bauer admitted to punching her in the buttocks repeatedly, but when she said that she did not consent to that and did not consider it a “free-for-all,” Bauer then tried to change the conversation.

“At the end of the phone call, at the police’s instructions, I said, ‘Thank you for acknowledging what you did to me,'” the woman’s account said. “Trevor acknowledged it and asked how we could move forward and asked if he could still reach out.” The woman said she told him he could because she did not know if the police needed more messages from him to collect as evidence as part of their investigation.

Lt. Bill Grisafe confirmed Wednesday the Pasadena Police Department is actively investigating this. “We were notified on or about May 16 and that’s when we began looking into the accusations,” he said. “It’s an active investigation.”

Grisafe told The Athletic that the case has not been presented to the district attorney’s office, which would be the next step after the investigation concludes for potential charging.

“We anticipate there will be criminal action against Mr. Bauer and it is our hope law enforcement will take our client’s allegations and case seriously,” the woman’s lawyer, Marc Garelick, said in a statement.

The woman said she waited to request the domestic violence restraining order to see how the criminal investigation would proceed and expressed concern over the timeline.

“I am deeply concerned that no arrest has been made or charges filed,” she said in the document.

“One of the last text messages I sent him was, ‘I appreciate all of your offers to help, but the best way you can help me is to never do that to anyone else ever again.’ To this, Trevor responded, ‘I would never do anything to hurt anyone. That includes you.’”

The 30-year-old Bauer signed a record-breaking, three-year, $102 million deal this winter on the heels of winning the National League Cy Young Award. He last pitched on Monday.

The Dodgers said in a statement they were made aware of the allegations against Bauer on Tuesday afternoon and “take any allegations of this nature very seriously.” The statement also says the Dodgers immediately contacted Major League Baseball, which will be investigating the matter, and that the team had no further comment.

 

[shadow_operative 15932]

6 hours ago, Gourmand said:

not at all

I've always known Bauer was a fraud and a shitty dude. not my fault some others were duped. 

he still seems more stable and grounded than you. 

[MC Fresh Breath 4075]

Ohtani seems to have not had a good night last night.

[Helobious 9823]

Name a reliever worse than Chapman. You can’t. Fuck this team.

[elguapo 4620]

3 hours ago, shadow_operative said:

he still seems more stable and grounded than you. 

Hahahahahaha no. You were all over Bauer's nuts with you're "I love Bauer he's the most credible person in MLB!!!!" and now it's clear you were a just duped fool. Own it.

[Gourmand 7778]

Name a reliever worse than Chapman. You can’t. Fuck this team.

Brandon Bielak


Sent from my Pixel 3a using Tapatalk

[shadow_operative 15932]

this is the stat that for me most drives home how out of hand things have gotten with the new balls, the shifts, the launch angle revolution, etc. these numbers are mind blowing. a pitcher putting up "video game numbers" should be a freak of nature who is a lock to win the cy young. there are 20 pitchers putting up video game numbers this year. shit has seriously gotten out of hand. 

[shadow_operative 15932]

18 minutes ago, elguapo said:

Hahahahahaha no. You were all over Bauer's nuts with you're "I love Bauer he's the most credible person in MLB!!!!" and now it's clear you were a just duped fool. Own it.

lol wut. maybe 10+ years ago i would be able to comprehend/participate in this sort of internet drama, but i don't get it/won't be sucked into it. i agreed with Trevor Bauer on one subject, namely the use of sticky stuff in baseball and the mlb's handling of it, and now i'm some uber pwned trevor bauer fanboi who needs to feel bad because he might be a sexual predator? what? that's such a weird, childish, and combative leap to make. but uh, have fun with it i guess. 

[elguapo 4620]

On 6/21/2021 at 9:49 PM, shadow_operative said:

this is a little late in responding, but re: that Bauer video: a)i've always heard it reported the way Bauer tells it, and i posted as much previously in the thread- i've seen it reported multiple times on ESPN that the MLB told everyone to keep on doing what they've been doing so that MLB can do some more fact-finding. to call him out like that curse his name and call him a motherfucking liar doesn't track for me. which brings up b)if bauer was lying, with all of the guys in the league who hate him, someone would have called him out for it by now. you can post all the links you want, but everything i've seen points to Bauer telling the truth. he's been the only one to be open about this shit from the jump. he has all the credibility on this issue. 

Hah what an idiot

[Beau Vine 55870]

11 hours ago, Gourmand said:

not at all

I've always known Bauer was a fraud and a shitty dude. not my fault some others were duped. 

[TonyTexas 10783]

1 hour ago, Helobious said:

Name a reliever worse than Chapman. You can’t. Fuck this team.

Yeah. Chapman is a choker. What a beating this guy is. 

[Hank Chinaski 6362]

Bauer has always seemed like a douchebag because he's always come off as a pretentious, childish, attention-craving narcissist, with a massive victim complex, who thinks he's always the smartest guy in the room. People that fit that description generally suck as human beings and are generally unlikable. 

It's laughable to suggest that "Astros fans" is the lone cohort of people who dislike him when there are myriad stories of his own teammates going all the way back to college hating his ass. He is largely loathed. 

That he very well may be a violent rapist is unfortunate, but probably not extraordinarily surprising given the way he typically conducts himself. 

[huge 3831]

It would seem that Bauer could show the supposed texts and make this all go away?

[shadow_operative 15932]

1 hour ago, elguapo said:

Hah what an idiot

is there a rule that says all surly astros fans are required to behave like 12 year old kids? you guys are a beating when you wander out of your thread. 

[elguapo 4620]

3 minutes ago, shadow_operative said:

is there a rule that says all surly astros fans are required to behave like 12 year old kids? you guys are a beating when you wander out of your thread. 

[ChiTownDoc 21346]

*hey I’ll check out the Mlb thread*
 

never again 

[Gourmand 7778]

1 hour ago, shadow_operative said:

i agreed with Trevor Bauer on one subject, namely the use of sticky stuff in baseball and the mlb's handling of it, and now i'm some uber pwned trevor bauer fanboi who needs to feel bad because he might be a sexual predator? what? that's such a weird, childish, and combative leap to make. but uh, have fun with it i guess. 

Astros game got me a little wound up last night and I probably didn't need those last couple of Art Car IPAs, so I apologize for being a bit more obnoxious than I would have been otherwise. 

My earlier point about that interview where he completely lied about the basic facts still stands though. He has no credibility on the issue of spider tack or MLB's 2021 policy but league officials aren't talking to reporters after every game like pitchers do, so there's no one out there pushing back against bullshit artists like Bauer.  He has an agenda, and he has a hypocrisy problem because he cheated even though he previously said it was against his morals and would never do what other pitchers were doing.

You refused to acknowledge contrary facts because you think that Trevor Bauer is a credible voice and you just heard what you wanted to hear. You probably still believe him when he says MLB told pitchers to just keep doing what they were doing and the league would figure it out in the offseason. Do you?

[Gourmand 7778]

For all the shit Angel Hernandez gets, CB Bucknor is just as incompetent.

 

[huge 3831]

is there a rule that says all surly astros fans are required to behave like 12 year old kids? you guys are a beating when you wander out of your thread. 

No

Some people just act like idiots on the internet.

News at clown penis.fart

[Helobious 9823]

There should be a designated thread where Astros fans & actual real baseball fans can just sling shit at each other. It’s mucking up the MLB thread.

[MC Fresh Breath 4075]

2 hours ago, elguapo said:

Hah what an idiot

Ironical. 

And Gourmand calling anyone's jokes 'poor taste' is the height of temerity.  Derka's right, this thread sucks when certain (not all,) Astros fans brigade it.  Astros fans who apparently don't notice anything else baseball related outside of their team other than Bauer and sometimes the Dodgers. 

[elguapo 4620]

Y'all should definitely cry about Astros fans in this thread more, that will help.

[MC Fresh Breath 4075]

5 minutes ago, elguapo said:

Y'all should definitely cry about Astros fans in this thread more, that will help.

Pointing out the thread is better without you in it isn't crying.  Your lizard brain probably can't grasp that, I'm sure.

 

[elguapo 4620]

5 minutes ago, MC Fresh Breath said:

 

Astros fans who apparently don't notice anything else baseball related outside of their team other than Bauer and sometimes the Dodgers. 

How ironical. Derka made some idiotic posts about how great and credible Bauer is when anyone who follows MLB knows that to be laughable, but Astros fans are the ones who don't notice anything.

[MC Fresh Breath 4075]

1 minute ago, elguapo said:

How ironical. Derka made some idiotic posts about how great and credible Bauer is when anyone who follows MLB knows that to be laughable, but Astros fans are the ones who don't notice anything.

Are you drunk, or are you just this stupid?

Either way, you're obviously not worth it.

[elguapo 4620]

2 minutes ago, MC Fresh Breath said:

Pointing out the thread is better without you in it isn't crying.  Your lizard brain probably can't grasp that, I'm sure.

 

Cool, now that I know exactly how much my presence here irritates you I'll make sure to contribute more often.

[elguapo 4620]

2 minutes ago, MC Fresh Breath said:

Are you drunk, or are you just this stupid?

Either way, you're obviously not worth it.

[Gourmand 7778]

15 minutes ago, MC Fresh Breath said:

And Gourmand calling anyone's jokes 'poor taste' is the height of temerity.

[MC Fresh Breath 4075]

3 minutes ago, Gourmand said:

I don't participate in football threads on surly.  But I recall you from Shaggy.  You just no room to talk.  Seriously.

 

[Gil Bang 26247]

5 hours ago, MC Fresh Breath said:

Ohtani seems to have not had a good night last night.

I watched it.  He was wild, yes.  However, he got fucked on several ball/strike calls that would have gotten him out of the inning.   He gave up 2 hits and walked 4, all in the 1st.   He had plenty of velocity.  He was hitting 99 on the gun. 

[Gourmand 7778]

Just now, MC Fresh Breath said:

I don't participate in football threads on surly.  But I recall you from Shaggy.  You just no room to talk.  Seriously.

 

wtf are you talking about??? and maybe you should calibrate your meters.

[TexArcher 39074]

20 minutes ago, Helobious said:

There should be a designated thread where Astros fans & actual real baseball fans can just sling shit at each other. It’s mucking up the MLB thread.

All you do is sling shit at Astros fans.  You're a kid from the Valley who jumped on the Yankees bandwagon and what you understand about baseball wouldn't fill a thimble.  "Actual real baseball fans," get the fuck out of here.

[MC Fresh Breath 4075]

1 minute ago, Gourmand said:

wtf are you talking about??? and maybe you should calibrate your meters.

I'm saying you continually posted pretty vile stuff back in the day.  Maybe you still do, I don't know. So your fainting about bad taste act is incredibly lame.

[Gourmand 7778]

1 minute ago, MC Fresh Breath said:

I'm saying you continually posted pretty vile stuff back in the day.  Maybe you still do, I don't know. So your fainting about bad taste act is incredibly lame.

uh no I didn't, jfc. 

and you reallllly realllly reallllly should go back and re-read my earlier post since you missed the fucking joke. 

[Helobious 9823]

10 minutes ago, Gil Bang said:

I watched it.  He was wild, yes.  However, he got fucked on several ball/strike calls that would have gotten him out of the inning.   He gave up 2 hits and walked 4, all in the 1st.   He had plenty of velocity.  He was hitting 99 on the gun. 

Quit talking about baseball and insult someone. 

[Gourmand 7778]

Just now, Helobious said:

Quit talking about baseball and insult someone. 

CHAPMAN SUCKS

[MC Fresh Breath 4075]

4 minutes ago, Gourmand said:

uh no I didn't, jfc. 

and you reallllly realllly reallllly should go back and re-read my earlier post since you missed the fucking joke. 

This post?

Quote

you guys look like fucking idiots now

 

Or this one?

Quote

I've always known Bauer was a fraud and a shitty dude. not my fault some others were duped. 

1.  You've always known he was "a fraud" ever since he picked on your team, I'm sure.

2.  Thinking he was right about the sticky substance stuff (I'm not saying I do or don't) doesn't equate to being 'duped.'  Nor does it equate to whether he's guilty or not  in terms of this latest shit.

3. One can actually think Bauer is an asshole and still think he might have been right about various subjects.  That concept is apparently very difficult for some of you to grasp.

[Gourmand 7778]

3 minutes ago, MC Fresh Breath said:

This post?

no you giant fucking dipshit, the one that got your nuts twisted about "other people's jokes". Goddamn dude. Are you that stupid?

[MC Fresh Breath 4075]

1 minute ago, Gourmand said:

no you giant fucking dipshit, the one that got your nuts twisted about "other people's jokes". Goddamn dude. Are you that stupid?

Oh, I missed your pun?  Sorry, but the rest of your posts about Bauer didn't indicate you had the ability to joke about it.   It does hurt being called stupid by someone who can't understand basic logic.

 

[elguapo 4620]

6 minutes ago, MC Fresh Breath said:

 

2.  Thinking he was right about the sticky substance stuff (I'm not saying I do or don't) doesn't equate to being 'duped.'  Nor does it equate to whether he's guilty or not  in terms of this latest shit.

 

You must not pay attention to MLB since Bauer is well known around the league as a liar, and therefore yes anyone who fell for his BS around the illegal substances was by definition "duped".

[Gourmand 7778]

 

7 minutes ago, MC Fresh Breath said:

1.  You've always known he was "a fraud" ever since he picked on your team, I'm sure.

Yes, and it has far more to do with his moralizing and blatant hypocrisy than his beef with the Astros. The guy is a cheater who parades like he's white knighting the game of baseball. 

 

9 minutes ago, MC Fresh Breath said:

2.  Thinking he was right about the sticky substance stuff (I'm not saying I do or don't) doesn't equate to being 'duped.'  Nor does it equate to whether he's guilty or not  in terms of this latest shit.

No. you're duped because you take him at his word over verifiable facts that have previously been known and reported. He is lying when he tells baseball fans that MLB told pitchers to keep doing what they've been doing. That is blatantly untrue and yet many posters here believe otherwise, largely because of the shit Bauer said. You are correct that these may not relate to his current situation, but it does relate to his credibility, which is non-existent as he's shown himself to be a hypocrite and a liar. 

 

[40acredropout 2911]

JFC, will you two just get a room and fuck it out already?

[Gourmand 7778]

1 hour ago, Gourmand said:

Astros game got me a little wound up last night and I probably didn't need those last couple of Art Car IPAs, so I apologize for being a bit more obnoxious than I would have been otherwise. 

quoting myself again since 1) i was a bit drunk and obnoxious with that one post and 2) since apparently MCbreath didn't catch it the first time. 

I apologize for saying "y'all look like idiots now."  I agree that was a little excessive.

Setting aside the recent reporting of Bauer's personal life, his mischaracterizations of MLB's 2021 policy and his constant yapping about it really irked me over the last couple of weeks because I knew he was helping perpetuate a false narrative that has overwhelmingly convinced the public the league is making mid-season policy changes when those changes went into effect at the start of the season as part of the gameday compliance monitoring process. Derka's uninformed insistences about "how I've heard it"  are a good example of what I've railed against. 

From opening day MLB had employees in every baseball stadium and clubhouse collecting baseballs and watching players and personnel, players were warned to knock it off or risk suspensions, yet Trevor Bauer continued to tell fans that the league dropped a new policy in the middle of the season and was breaking some promise that they would not do anything until the offseason. That is categorically, undeniably wrong, and the derkas still can't admit it. So was Bauer uninformed or was he lying? Does he have a performance incentive to lie about the league's response? Was he pitching clean?

But all those gullible dupes watching his interviews on ESPN or MLBN think he's just telling it like it is, completely oblivious to his misrepresentation of the facts.

Trevor Bauer: cheater, liar, hypocrite. I'm looking forward to him finally shutting the fuck up.

 

[Starfleet Command 441]

I can understand the players' gripe about all substances being banned.  I believe the rosin/sunscreen users were concerned with obtaining a decent grip on the ball to avoid HBPs/WPs and not specifically to increase spin rate.  The spin rate increase from those substances appears to be fairly minor in the 100 RPM while stuff like Spider Tack is more in the 200-400 RPM range.  You can tell by perusing the player breakdowns each night on Baseball Savant exactly which pitchers were cheating with something like Spider Tack and which were using nothing or some kind of sunscreen/rosin mix.  

Years ago MLB should have come to an agreement with the players about what substances are okay to use and which substances aren't, and they should have seriously enforced that policy.  Instead they didn't seriously enforce their policy and with the amount of money at stake the players pushed it until it began to hurt the game and MLB had no choice but to act.

This isn't all that different from sign stealing although increasing spin 200-400 RPM is a much greater performance enhancer than stealing signs.

[Huckleberry 34701]

If you can't control the ball without cheating then you can either throw more slowly or not be a major league baseball pitcher. The people twisting themselves in knots to defend this particular kind of cheating are ridiculous. 

[Starfleet Command 441]

2 minutes ago, Huckleberry said:

If you can't control the ball without cheating then you can either throw more slowly or not be a major league baseball pitcher. The people twisting themselves in knots to defend this particular kind of cheating are ridiculous. 

Based on the decline in spinrate over the past month, it appears the majority of MLB pitchers can't control the ball without cheating.  I also don't think pitchers are lying when they say they use substances like mud, rosin, and sunscreen to get a decent grip on the ball.  If those pitchers were really intent on gaining a competitive advantage through the use of foreign substances then they would join the 10-15% who are using something like Spider Tack which gives a much greater advantage.  Indeed, based on Sawchick's experiments it's debatable if sunscreen + rosin provides any kind of increase in spin.  

 

[Huckleberry 34701]

14 minutes ago, Starfleet Command said:

Based on the decline in spinrate over the past month, it appears the majority of MLB pitchers can't control the ball without cheating.  I also don't think pitchers are lying when they say they use substances like mud, rosin, and sunscreen to get a decent grip on the ball.  If those pitchers were really intent on gaining a competitive advantage through the use of foreign substances then they would join the 10-15% who are using something like Spider Tack which gives a much greater advantage.  Indeed, based on Sawchick's experiments it's debatable if sunscreen + rosin provides any kind of increase in spin.  

 

Other than being completely wrong this was a good post. 

There was no epidemic of wild pitches and hit batters before Spider Tack and the recent RPM increase. Pitchers are cheating and if they can't control the ball at 100% velocity then the answer is that they go back to throwing 95% where they can control it. It's absurd that you seem to believe major league pitchers have no possible adjustment to control the ball other than illegal substances. The reality is that their talk about needing illegal substances to control the ball is complete bullshit. 

I guess the Astros should have just said they were signaling pitches so their batters would know when a pitch up and in was a fastball so they could get out of the way. You know, for safety. 

Pitchers who can't control the ball with just rosin and sweat don't belong in the major leagues. Same as always. 

[Starfleet Command 441]

1 hour ago, Huckleberry said:

Other than being completely wrong this was a good post. 

There was no epidemic of wild pitches and hit batters before Spider Tack and the recent RPM increase. Pitchers are cheating and if they can't control the ball at 100% velocity then the answer is that they go back to throwing 95% where they can control it. It's absurd that you seem to believe major league pitchers have no possible adjustment to control the ball other than illegal substances. The reality is that their talk about needing illegal substances to control the ball is complete bullshit. 

I guess the Astros should have just said they were signaling pitches so their batters would know when a pitch up and in was a fastball so they could get out of the way. You know, for safety. 

Pitchers who can't control the ball with just rosin and sweat don't belong in the major leagues. Same as always. 

What exactly are you arguing?  No pitchers are using spider tack because they can’t otherwise grip the ball. Pitchers caught using it and substances like it should be punished accordingly.  Pitchers have been using a mixture of sunscreen and rosin for much longer than spider tack has been around, and isn’t linked with the type of spin increase associated with spider tack.  That banning of the sunscreen/rosin mix is what the players are mad about as it’s used almost universally by pitchers. 

[WBT 20990]

2 hours ago, Starfleet Command said:

What exactly are you arguing?  No pitchers are using spider tack because they can’t otherwise grip the ball. Pitchers caught using it and substances like it should be punished accordingly.  Pitchers have been using a mixture of sunscreen and rosin for much longer than spider tack has been around, and isn’t linked with the type of spin increase associated with spider tack.  That banning of the sunscreen/rosin mix is what the players are mad about as it’s used almost universally by pitchers. 

He's arguing that they aren't doping the ball to prevent wp and hpb.  They're doping it to get more break on their breaking balls and more rise on their fastballs.  And to be able to let it go at 100% effort and still hit the black.  Maybe if the k rate got to 50% everyone would acknowledge that it's a problem?