Jump to content

2019 MLB thread

spystud13

By spystud13
in Baseball

 Share

Recommended Posts

Beau Vine

Beau Vine 54247

Posted
Posted
19 minutes ago, UTexasFight said:

But have as many teams between them and the 2nd wild card as they do between them and the worst record in the NL

That's only a problem if those teams start winning.  AZ just traded their ace.  SF is flukier than the Mets.  PHilly and Milwaukee are a mess.  The only team they need to chase is WAS, who is led by Dave Martinez.

Not saying the Mets are going to make the playoffs, just that they're far from dead.  They're winning today, and then they have 7 in row against PIT and MIA.  I could easily see them finishing that 7-1 and ahead of the Brewers in the WC standings.  I could also see them turning back into the lolMets. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • Replies 4.5k
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Popular Days

Top Posters In This Topic

Popular Days

Popular Posts

Seasick Sailor
Seasick Sailor
Beau Vine
Beau Vine

He's probably more pissed off about being related to you. Now go back to Cloak Room or wherever it is that you regularly infect with your stupidity and leave this awesome subforum be.

Beau Vine
Beau Vine

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

UTexasFight

UTexasFight 9490

Posted
Posted

Interesting perspective on trade deadline winners from Sarris:

With the trade deadline dust settled, it’s time to hand out grades — praise and shame, sure to be rendered incorrect by the coming two months of baseball. Usually, we focus on the talent coming in, which makes sense. New players! Woohoo! The problem is, that talent is pushing aside talent that was already on the team, and that incumbent player moves into a new role, pushing another player down the line.

It’s not a zero-sum game, in other words. There are ramifications for every move. Shane Greene doesn’t replace nothingness, he pushes Luke Jackson down a rung, which pushes Anthony Swarzak down, and so on. So you only really get the difference between Greene and Jackson, which is less compelling when you zoom out and look at this from space.

So, let’s try something. Let’s take all of the projections for each team right now and compare them to the projections last week, before this flurry of trades. If we use the depth chart projections at FanGraphs, we’ll account for this chaining aspect of adding talent and truly see which units on which teams were most affected by the movement of players over the deadline. This is just one way of looking at things, but hopefully it’s systematic in a way that’s compelling.

Which single position improved the most?

In the grander scheme of things, not that many position players changed hands. There was no Manny Machado or J.D. Martinez upheaval this deadline.

By the depth charts, the biggest move had nothing to do with the trade deadline, so it’s important to actually look at the team in total and judge the context. The Braves improved their right field projection by half a win! Their center field projection went down a bunch … Oh, right, they pushed Ronald Acuña, Jr. to right field and put Ender Inciarte atop the center field chart when Nick Markakis went down with injury, which has nothing to do with the trade deadline.

Position Projection Improvement
Braves RF +0.5
Indians RF +0.4
Indians DH +0.4
Phillies LF +0.2
Cubs CF +0.2
The position that improved the most due to the trade deadline was right field in Cleveland … tied with designated hitter in Cleveland. That’s what happens when you go from Jordan Luplow, Tyler Naquin and Jake Bauers to Yasiel Puig and Franmil Reyes.

Of course, that came at a cost.

Which starting rotation improved the most?

Given the above, I’m sure you can guess which rotation improved the most. By FanGraphs WAR, the Reds improved their rotation by a half win over the rest of the season. Adding Trevor Bauer and subtracting Tanner Roark can do that for a squad. Second were the Mets, who added Marcus Stroman and lost only Jason Vargas, which should be good for a third of a win.

Third were the Astros, who added Zack frigging Greinke and held steady in terms of rest-of-season projection, which seems weird. With options like Brad Peacock, Jose Urquidy and Rogelio Armenteros — all projected to be above replacement, with Peacock due to be worth more than half a win before Greinke’s addition — Greinke’s one-win rest-of-season projection “matters” a little less. Of course, it was more about October than getting there, but it’s worth pointing this out.

This incremental improvement during the regular season goes a little way to explaining why the Astros would go for Greinke but teams battling for the wild-card spot wouldn’t spend real prospects on improving their rotation in a similar manner (perhaps by buying Robbie Ray): one player on a roster of 25 players, with one third of the season left, is not likely to move the needle in the aggregate. The trade deadline has been trending toward less activity as a result.

New additions may change one loss into a win on the play-by-play level, though, and when you’re talking about postseason play, that’s worth it. Teams headed to the postseason have more of an incentive to do this sort of thing than a team fighting for the wild card, being asked to give up a top 100 prospect in order to improve their win projection by less than a third of a win.

Which bullpen improved the most?

Relievers, on the other hand, don’t cost that much. And with plenty of below-replacement relievers out there, it’s actually possible to swing some negatives to positives and make real improvements even over a small sample.

That was the case at least with the Braves, who improved their rest-of-season projection on the bullpen by a third of a win, by far the biggest improvement at the deadline. That’s what you get when you add innings from Greene, Mark Melancon, and Chris Martin, and subtract innings from Chad Sobotka, A.J. Minter and Touki Touissaint.

No other team improved its bullpen by even two-tenths of a win, though, and maybe because, jeez, two-tenths of a win?

Which team improved the most?

You already know that no team improved their rest-of-season projection by three or four wins, the kind of movement that could turn someone into a favorite for a race. The Astros were already so good that they merely held serve. In fact, only one team has a significantly better WAR projection today than they did more than a week ago, which makes some sense as every team’s rest-of-season projection should be a little worse than it was a week ago because there’s a week less left in the season.

But one team reshaped their roster drastically, and improved their lineup by leaps and bounds, enough to overcome the loss in their rotation. You guessed it, the Cleveland Indians won the deadline … and improved their rest-of-season projection by about half a win compared to where they were a week ago. Interestingly enough, the Reds are right there with them, but their half a win means less.

If you look at the full-season projected wins and losses at FanGraphs right now, that half game in Cleveland could be really meaningful. The Indians are supposed to end up with 94 wins. The Twins? 96. The other wild card teams? The Red Sox (90), the Rays (90) and the A’s (88) are all right there. Pushing even a half win closer to the Twins makes the division even more in play and could be worth it — and they did some work on their 2020 budget, which is a brilliant way to both buy and sell (a feature of this year’s deadline).

Subjectively, it seems like the Astros, Giants and Diamondbacks won the deadline for different reasons. And those teams were able to accomplish their varied objectives, so they deserve praise.

But objectively, at least by this method, there was a clear deadline winner in Cleveland. They can enjoy this praise until Thursday’s game starts and it’s all out the window.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Beau Vine

Beau Vine 54247

Posted
Posted
29 minutes ago, spystud13 said:

Hurdle getting more than 2 would have helped. 

Yeah, and I don't understand how Bell only got 6???  He had already been ejected and came out on the field to participate.  That should be worth 15-20. 

Joe Torre seems mildly retarded. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Tommy Nobis

Tommy Nobis 905

Posted
Posted
You’re another one of those lifelong Astros fans since 2015 I imagine?
I was pissed yesterday, but today is a new day. October is a different ballgame. Verlander & Cole will be nightmares to face in the postseason, but Greinke is different. He’s a choke artist & cant handle the spotlight, as his playoff ERA attests to. YankeeMagic will eat that dude alive if they face off.


Jeff Lunhow teabagged the fuck out of Cashman yesterday. Yankee magic that across your chin.
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Bartles

Bartles 769

Posted
Posted
4 hours ago, UTexasFight said:

Interesting perspective on trade deadline winners from Sarris:
 

  Reveal hidden contents

With the trade deadline dust settled, it’s time to hand out grades — praise and shame, sure to be rendered incorrect by the coming two months of baseball. Usually, we focus on the talent coming in, which makes sense. New players! Woohoo! The problem is, that talent is pushing aside talent that was already on the team, and that incumbent player moves into a new role, pushing another player down the line.

It’s not a zero-sum game, in other words. There are ramifications for every move. Shane Greene doesn’t replace nothingness, he pushes Luke Jackson down a rung, which pushes Anthony Swarzak down, and so on. So you only really get the difference between Greene and Jackson, which is less compelling when you zoom out and look at this from space.

So, let’s try something. Let’s take all of the projections for each team right now and compare them to the projections last week, before this flurry of trades. If we use the depth chart projections at FanGraphs, we’ll account for this chaining aspect of adding talent and truly see which units on which teams were most affected by the movement of players over the deadline. This is just one way of looking at things, but hopefully it’s systematic in a way that’s compelling.

Which single position improved the most?

In the grander scheme of things, not that many position players changed hands. There was no Manny Machado or J.D. Martinez upheaval this deadline.

By the depth charts, the biggest move had nothing to do with the trade deadline, so it’s important to actually look at the team in total and judge the context. The Braves improved their right field projection by half a win! Their center field projection went down a bunch … Oh, right, they pushed Ronald Acuña, Jr. to right field and put Ender Inciarte atop the center field chart when Nick Markakis went down with injury, which has nothing to do with the trade deadline.

Position Projection Improvement
Braves RF +0.5
Indians RF +0.4
Indians DH +0.4
Phillies LF +0.2
Cubs CF +0.2
The position that improved the most due to the trade deadline was right field in Cleveland … tied with designated hitter in Cleveland. That’s what happens when you go from Jordan Luplow, Tyler Naquin and Jake Bauers to Yasiel Puig and Franmil Reyes.

Of course, that came at a cost.

Which starting rotation improved the most?

Given the above, I’m sure you can guess which rotation improved the most. By FanGraphs WAR, the Reds improved their rotation by a half win over the rest of the season. Adding Trevor Bauer and subtracting Tanner Roark can do that for a squad. Second were the Mets, who added Marcus Stroman and lost only Jason Vargas, which should be good for a third of a win.

Third were the Astros, who added Zack frigging Greinke and held steady in terms of rest-of-season projection, which seems weird. With options like Brad Peacock, Jose Urquidy and Rogelio Armenteros — all projected to be above replacement, with Peacock due to be worth more than half a win before Greinke’s addition — Greinke’s one-win rest-of-season projection “matters” a little less. Of course, it was more about October than getting there, but it’s worth pointing this out.

This incremental improvement during the regular season goes a little way to explaining why the Astros would go for Greinke but teams battling for the wild-card spot wouldn’t spend real prospects on improving their rotation in a similar manner (perhaps by buying Robbie Ray): one player on a roster of 25 players, with one third of the season left, is not likely to move the needle in the aggregate. The trade deadline has been trending toward less activity as a result.

New additions may change one loss into a win on the play-by-play level, though, and when you’re talking about postseason play, that’s worth it. Teams headed to the postseason have more of an incentive to do this sort of thing than a team fighting for the wild card, being asked to give up a top 100 prospect in order to improve their win projection by less than a third of a win.

Which bullpen improved the most?

Relievers, on the other hand, don’t cost that much. And with plenty of below-replacement relievers out there, it’s actually possible to swing some negatives to positives and make real improvements even over a small sample.

That was the case at least with the Braves, who improved their rest-of-season projection on the bullpen by a third of a win, by far the biggest improvement at the deadline. That’s what you get when you add innings from Greene, Mark Melancon, and Chris Martin, and subtract innings from Chad Sobotka, A.J. Minter and Touki Touissaint.

No other team improved its bullpen by even two-tenths of a win, though, and maybe because, jeez, two-tenths of a win?

Which team improved the most?

You already know that no team improved their rest-of-season projection by three or four wins, the kind of movement that could turn someone into a favorite for a race. The Astros were already so good that they merely held serve. In fact, only one team has a significantly better WAR projection today than they did more than a week ago, which makes some sense as every team’s rest-of-season projection should be a little worse than it was a week ago because there’s a week less left in the season.

But one team reshaped their roster drastically, and improved their lineup by leaps and bounds, enough to overcome the loss in their rotation. You guessed it, the Cleveland Indians won the deadline … and improved their rest-of-season projection by about half a win compared to where they were a week ago. Interestingly enough, the Reds are right there with them, but their half a win means less.

If you look at the full-season projected wins and losses at FanGraphs right now, that half game in Cleveland could be really meaningful. The Indians are supposed to end up with 94 wins. The Twins? 96. The other wild card teams? The Red Sox (90), the Rays (90) and the A’s (88) are all right there. Pushing even a half win closer to the Twins makes the division even more in play and could be worth it — and they did some work on their 2020 budget, which is a brilliant way to both buy and sell (a feature of this year’s deadline).

Subjectively, it seems like the Astros, Giants and Diamondbacks won the deadline for different reasons. And those teams were able to accomplish their varied objectives, so they deserve praise.

But objectively, at least by this method, there was a clear deadline winner in Cleveland. They can enjoy this praise until Thursday’s game starts and it’s all out the window.

 

Hope Ken Rosenthal read that, his column bemoans the lack of activity and basically smacks down the wild card contenders for being too passive. Said they should act like "passionate fans" which imo would be disastrous. A playoff team becoming a clear WS favorite is more valuable than a .500-ish team making a case to host a WC game.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
UTexasFight

UTexasFight 9490

Posted
Posted
Hope Ken Rosenthal read that, his column bemoans the lack of activity and basically smacks down the wild card contenders for being too passive. Said they should act like "passionate fans" which imo would be disastrous. A playoff team becoming a clear WS favorite is more valuable than a .500-ish team making a case to host a WC game.

Yeah, read Rosenthal’s article too and he sounded like a little crybaby.

Must not have picked up as many twitter followers as he hoped to at the beginning of the day

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Beau Vine

Beau Vine 54247

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Bartles said:

Hope Ken Rosenthal read that, his column bemoans the lack of activity and basically smacks down the wild card contenders for being too passive. Said they should act like "passionate fans" which imo would be disastrous. A playoff team becoming a clear WS favorite is more valuable than a .500-ish team making a case to host a WC game.

That's what Smoltz was doing the other night ("these GMs are overvaluing prospects that may turn out to be nothing"), which was the fucking peak of irony, because he was traded as a prospect and ended up in the Hall of Fame.

Smoltz as an announcer is like the second coming of Joe Morgan.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Helobious

Helobious 9461

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Goo Punch said:

I've always been one who liked Trevor Bauer, but even if you don't like him you have to admit that this is awesome: 

 

Yeah fuck that guy. Last shot should've been of him chucking the ball over the fence like the petulant child that he is. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Beau Vine

Beau Vine 54247

Posted
Posted (edited)
Quote

Employment discrimination lawsuits are difficult to win. They’re even harder when you do your work in front of a live audience. It’s like being in front of a large jury every day, with jury members unafraid to tell you how they really feel about your performance. 

That’s the situation facing Major League Baseball umpire Angel Hernandez. His Title VII employment discrimination against Major League Baseball is now in its third year. And recent court rulings make his uphill climb even steeper.

Hernandez initially filed suit against MLB in federal district court in Ohio in June 2017, claiming that MLB is discriminating against him because he is Latino (Hernandez was born in Cuba). In broad strokes, Hernandez alleges that as a vet

eran umpire (he started with MLB in 1993), he should be named a crew chief, a position he unsuccessfully applied for several times, and should be given the honor of umpiring more World Series. Both positions bring prestige and more money. Hernandez claims he has been passed over for those positions, in favor of less experienced —and white — umpires.

The MLB commissioner’s office evaluates umpires twice each season: at the halfway mark and after the World Series has ended. Umpires are evaluated on how they call balls and strikes; make judgment calls on game plays; get into position on the field to make accurate calls; signal calls; and handle arguments and other highly stressful situations on the field. According to his complaint, Hernandez has received above-average evaluations from the commissioner’s office throughout his career, with stellar reviews from 2002 through 2010. 

That all changed, he says, in 2011 when Joe Torre, the former Major League catcher and longtime manager, joined MLB’s front office as Executive Vice President for Baseball Operations. Torre’s current title is Chief Baseball Officer, but his duties are essentially the same. Those duties include overseeing MLB’s umpires. 

The complaint describes a 2001 incident in which Torre — then the New York Yankees’ manager —criticized Hernandez after a game for what Torre thought was a blown call during the game. “He would look like a fool” if he watched video of the call, Torre said, according to the complaint. “I think he just wanted to be noticed over there.”

Hernandez claims that since Torre joined MLB in 2011, the idea that Hernandez “just wants to be noticed” has “permeated” his evaluations, which have dipped overall, and led to fewer postseason assignments.

This is an odd emphasis in Hernandez’s complaint. If Torre holds a grudge, or has allowed his view of Hernandez from his managerial days to affect his evaluation of Hernandez since 2011, that doesn’t support a claim that Hernandez has been denied promotions because he’s Latino. The Torre twist undercuts Hernandez’s legal claim under Title VII, because it supports what is likely to be MLB’s defense: Hernandez does unnecessarily escalate on-field disputes, particularly when he’s accused of missing an obvious call, and isn’t as qualified for the crew chief position or postseason assignments as other umpires. 

That’s certainly the view of many current and former MLB players, who in pollafter poll, rank Hernandez as one of the worst umpires in baseball. And since the advent of Twitter, retired players have not been shy about expressing their disdain for Hernandez’s umpiring skills.

 

I will not watch a game, any game, officiated by Angel Hernandez! His incompetence amazes me and I'm tired of MLB doing squat about it! Nite

 
 
 
 

 

 

How Angel Hernandez is still umpiring let alone the playoffs is unreal to me. He is far the worst umpire in the league. Every year.

 
 
 
 

 

And while fans get angry about any call that goes against their team, just a quick Twitter search reveals scores of GIFs and memes calling out Hernandez for what the fans see as one ridiculously blown call after another.

Can you imagine if any of these fans end up in the jury pool for the trial? 

The trial, if Hernandez’s claims make it that far, will take place in federal court in Manhattan, not in Ohio. The federal court in Ohio transferred the case to federal court in New York after MLB successfully argued that Ohio was not a proper venue for the dispute.

Why did Hernandez want his discrimination case heard in Ohio, where Latinos make up less than 4 percent of the population? Because Ohio’s anti-discrimination statute, which Hernandez included in his original complaint, allows plaintiffs to seek unlimited punitive damages against a defendant if they can prove malicious or reckless conduct. New York’s statute does not. 

Judge J. Paul Oetken, the New York federal judge presiding over Hernandez’s lawsuit, recently threw out the umpire’s claim under that Ohio statute because it conflicted with New York law. When it comes to damages, then, Hernandez will be limited to seeking back pay for lost promotions, compensatory damages for pain and suffering, and punitive damages up to a limit of $300,000. 

Last week, Oetken issued another ruling against Hernandez. MLB had subpoenaed documents from the umpires’ union (the Major League Baseball Umpires Association) relating to any discussions between Hernandez and the union about his discrimination claims. The league also sought additional deposition testimony from Hernandez about those discussions. (Depositions are pre-trial examinations under oath). Hernandez asked the court to block the subpoena and the deposition, claiming a “union relations” privilege. A magistrate judge recommended that Oetken deny Hernandez’s motion after finding no basis in federal law for such a privilege. Oetken did just that.

No trial date has been set yet, but the two sides are nearing the end of what’s called “fact discovery” — when the parties exchange documents, take depositions and answer written questions under oath. Next comes expert discovery. In this case, that include experts on workplace discrimination and damages. 

Before a trial, MLB is likely to ask the court to dismiss the case on summary judgment — a legal procedure that permits courts to rule on legal issues if the key facts are undisputed. That seems unlikely. So unless the case settles, we may be headed for a courtroom showdown. But this time, it will be Oetken calling balls and strikes.

 

Edited by Beau Vine
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Beau Vine

Beau Vine 54247

Posted
Posted

Stark:

Quote

They slipped the big announcement into a press release on March 14, in between rule changes on mound visits and All-Star voting:

The trade deadline will remain July 31; however…

So welcome to the however portion of the 2019 season. The deadline has come. The deadline has gone. However… you know those fun and fascinating August waiver trades that used to be such an integral part of stretch-drive baseball? Sorry. Not this year. Outlawed.

What we saw Wednesday was one deadline in baseball that was an actual deadline. What a concept. And the thinking behind making this change sounded awesome in theory. What could baseball do to create A Big Event that would rival the NBA and NFL drafts – a must-see attraction that would alter rosters across the sport? How about one true trade deadline, with no second chances!

So here we are, a day later. And is it OK if we ask: Is that what they got? Is that what this was — a big, can’t-peel-your-eyes-away Event with a capital E?

It’s tempting to say yes. More than 60 players got traded in one day … One of them was Zack Greinke, who went to the Astros in a dramatic buzzer-beater of a deal that altered the face of the entire American League … And 25 of the 30 teams at least did something in the final 24 hours before the deadline.

But hold on. There’s another side to this story. Are we sure this deadline was everything that baseball dreamed it would be? That answer is: Not quite.

Remember those predictions a month ago that only having one deadline would set off an avalanche of early deals? Ho-ho-ho-ho-ho. There wasn’t a single headline-making trade in the entire month of July until Marcus Stroman got traded – on Monday, two days before the deadline.

And even Deadline Day itself was shaping up as a major letdown – until the 4 p.m. ET bell rang, when suddenly the Greinke blockbuster went down seconds before the deadline and a dozen late deals were announced.

So we have questions. Was this a good idea in the first place? … Does a single deadline create more interest or less interest? … What should baseball do about future deadlines?… And what happens if your team gets obliterated by injuries in August, with no waiver-deal safety net?

Hey, guess what? We can answer all your questions. So as baseball lurches forward into its strange new August de-trade-ified zone, here’s everything you need to know about this, whether you realized you needed to know it or not:

Were there other reasons to dump the August trades? 

It would be misleading to say that baseball wanted to cram all the trading into July just for show-biz purposes. There were, in fact, other reasons:

  • For one thing, the August waiver-deal rules were so complicated and outdated, you needed a Ph.D. in waiver-ology just to make sense of them. Even if you liked those August deals, could you explain the system in 25 words or less? No!
  • The entire system was pretty ridiculous when you thought it through. Did you know that a different 72-hour waiver period began and ended every day through the entire month of August – so it needed to be monitored constantly, by every front office and the commissioner’s office? Insane. It’s hard to find anyone who was a fan of that.
  • And the whole process felt like it was undermining the real trade deadline, because more and more teams procrastinated on making big decisions, figuring there was always August to help them sort it all out. So even major deals (see “Verlander, Justin”) were going down in August instead of at the “deadline” which clearly wasn’t a deadline.

“Say we hadn’t had this change,” said one executive Wednesday night. “Even the Greinke trade probably wouldn’t have happened until August. He obviously would have cleared waivers because there was so much money attached … So wasn’t it better for the sport to have that happen now instead of August?”

Was it the new deadline’s fault that July was so dead?

As one July day after another passed without a significant trade, the grumbling began to mount.

“I think this was a big mistake,” said an executive of one contender the other day.

“We’ve got to go back to the way it used to be,” said another exec, from a team caught in are-we-in-it-or-out-of-it limbo.

The funny thing is, last winter, it was general managers who first pushed for the one-deadline system, sources said. But it wasn’t until those same GMs themselves in the middle of it this summer that they realized how much harder it made their jobs.

But was that all about the new deadline? To be honest, not really. It was about a world in which more teams (16) were within three games of a playoff spot, heading into July 31, than in any season in baseball history. And because of that, there weren’t enough sellers, which drastically limited the July action.

It was also about a world in which so many teams had no shot at winning their division, but were still in the thick of the wild-card race. So they didn’t have much incentive either to buy or sell aggressively.

And speaking of the wild card, virtually every baseball front office is now populated by smart dudes who understand it makes no mathematical sense to be “all in” at the deadline if your reward is only a one-game Wild Card Game playoff that could end your season in three hours.

 “If you do that, you’re putting a lot of your future on playing one game,” said one NL exec. “It doesn’t make sense [to go all in to play one game]. If you made the Wild Card two out of three, I bet you’d see more teams willing to do something. At least that’s a series. But who’s going to make a big trade for a chance to play one game?”

So if baseball wants more trades in July, a best-of-three wild-card series could change those front-office mindsets. Except guess what? Baseball’s powers that be love the Game 7 feel of that one-game wild-card showdown. Heck, they’ve kicked around the idea of adding a third wild-card team in each league and playing two survivor games per league on back-to-back days, with the winner of the 2-versus-3 wild card game facing the 1-seed the next day.

Which leads to a question posed by one AL exec: “Which is more exciting [to the people who run the sport] — a trade deadline with a lot of movement or that one-game playoff?”

When we posed that to one baseball official recently, he laughed and said: “I still think we can have both.”

Do players and managers miss the old system?

 Ha. Seriously? It was late in the evening on the night before the final trade deadline of 2019. Inside the clubhouse of the surging San Francisco Giants, Brandon Belt was dreaming – of a deadline that would come and go, and leave Madison Bumgarner in a Giants uniform.

“We just hope everybody stays here and we can ride this thing out,” the Giants’ first baseman said, “because we really think we can do something special.”

If this had been any other year, that 4 p.m. ET deadline the next day would have meant nothing, because the Giants would have had to sweat out an August full of MadBum rumors, too. But having a real deadline was a huge relief, Belt said, because “then we can finally stop worrying about it and go out there and take care of business.”

As fans of the sport, we could care less about rumor fatigue. But for the men who play it, it’s tiresome. Madison Bumgarner has spent the last two months listening to a thousand rumors about his future destination. You think he has any interest in another few weeks of having his family click on Ken Rosenthal’s column every morning?

And how about managers? They may like the idea that, under the old rules, their teams could still try to upgrade in August. But when we ran this topic past the Giants’ Bruce Bochy, he had no interest in prolonging his team’s trade-deadline agony.

“I like the deadline where it’s at,” he said. “And (when July 31 rolls around) I like it that it’s over, and you can say, ‘This is what we’ve got. This is who we are. Let’s go.’”

Is July 31 the wrong date?

July 31 was a perfectly sensible day for a trading deadline in the “olden” days. But after it came and went, there was also another month to finish off your team before. So now that there’s only one deadline, is it still the right date?

“I don’t think so,” said an executive of an AL seller. “You have to move it back because of the wild card, because there are so many teams still in it. I’d say give it another two weeks and make it Aug. 15.”

We heard that Aug. 15 idea quite a few times. It makes sense. The longer a team can wait to decide whether to buy or sell, the better chance it has of making the most intelligent decision. Would the Giants have liked more time to make that decision? How about the Diamondbacks, or the Mets or the Phillies?

If there’s only one trading deadline, there’s no reason it has to be July 31. So you can expect the debate about this date to flare up again after the season. But in truth, GMs are all over the map on The Right Date for the deadline. Some want it later. Some want it earlier. And some just don’t care. So it’s hard to see the date changing until baseball sees how this plays out for at least a couple of years.

“Of course, you’d like more time to make better decisions,” said one of the execs quoted earlier. “But that’s not how life works. You’d always like more time, but you don’t always have it. So I think our stance would be, we don’t make the rules. We just have to follow them. We should be able to make a decision with any rule.”

So how soon before the August grumbling begins?

 It shouldn’t take long. Just use your imagination. Suppose Mookie Betts goes down for the season tomorrow in Boston. Or Juan Soto gets hurt in Washington. Or Freddie Freeman breaks his leg in Atlanta. (And if any of that actually happens, please hold your thanks-for-the-jinx tweets! We won’t be reading them.) That will be the moment the demise of the August waiver trades will start looking like the dumbest idea in history.

“What if you lose two starters?” asked one AL exec. “What if you lose two catchers in the first week of August? If you’re playing two minor-league catchers, how is that good for baseball? You can only trade for so many Jose Lobatons and Drew Buteras and stash them at Triple A. You don’t want the quality of the game to suffer. And I don’t see any way to account for that with only one deadline.”

If that does happen, teams have three options:

  1. Make a trade for a player who is not on a major-league roster. That’s still legal.
  2. Claim a big-league player on waivers — but recognize you’ll be stuck with every penny left on his contract.
  3. Deal with it — and call up somebody from your system.

All 30 front offices have to live with those rules. So for now, as long as their team hasn’t suffered a devastating injury, at least some of the men in charge are trying to be philosophical about it.

“The rules are set up so you still have options,” said one executive. “But with those big injuries, isn’t that true in every sport? Kyrie Irving gets hurt. What are (the Celtics) supposed to do? Next man up. That’s just how this works.”

Yeah, that’s just how this works, all right. But that isn’t how it has worked in the past. Change is hard. Change in baseball is harder. So brace yourself. This is an August grenade just waiting to go off.

Is there any chance baseball goes back to the way it was?

Almost no rule, in any sport, is forever. Why would this one be any different? If there’s a mass uprising across the land over the end of the August trading period, baseball always has the option to pivot and change. And there will be people within the sport who lobby for that this winter.

“I was against this,” said an executive from one contender. “I think it’s a mistake. Baseball is about maintaining the interest of your fans. So why not have two deadlines? It’s a mistake. We’re trying to build interest here. You know how we address it? In the next (labor agreement), because it’s going to wind up backfiring.”

In truth, if it turns out that most people share that view, baseball wouldn’t have to wait for the next labor deal. This is considered a change in the playing rules, so it can be renegotiated with the union in any offseason, including this one.

But if you think that’s coming, guess again. We’ve already seen that players, managers and coaches actually prefer this system. And baseball officials are likely to look at the trading frenzy Wednesday and ask, “What’s the problem?”

So those August waiver deals are not coming back. Not any time soon, at least. What’s more likely is an understanding that it’s worth giving this a few years to see how it all shakes out. And in the meantime, baseball should explore other ways to incentivize more trades in July and more roster-building earlier in the offseason.

Plus, as with just about everything else in this rapidly changing sport, some teams figure out how how to gain an edge under this system faster than others. And we saw that Wednesday.

The Astros and Cubs waited until the final moments before the deadline to make their biggest deals (Greinke to Houston, Nicholas Castellanos to Chicago), so their competitors wouldn’t have time to react. Teams like the Dodgers and Rays began stockpiling the kind of depth in July they used to shop for in August. And we saw more teams buying/selling at the same time (Indians, Reds, Mets, Giants, Diamondbacks, etc.) than before any previous deadline.

So whatever you thought of baseball’s first “real” trade deadline, get used to it. You don’t even have to take our word for it. Just listen to Bruce Bochy.

“It’s part of baseball,” the Giants’ manager said. “It’s been here forever. And next year I’m sure everybody will be here, talking about it again.”

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Beau Vine

Beau Vine 54247

Posted
Posted

Here you go Snacks.  Whack your pud till it falls off:

Quote
By The Athletic Staff Jul 31, 2019comment-icon@2x.png 134 save-icon@2x.png

Just as the trade deadline seemed to be going out with a whimper, Ken Rosenthal broke the news: Arizona Diamondbacks ace Zack Greinke is heading to the Houston Astros. It’s a huge move for the Astros, who add arguably the best starter who was available, a Cy Young winner and six-time All-Star who is 10-4 with 2.87 ERA, 3.9 WAR and a 7.11 K/BB ratio in 141 innings this season. In the process, they also kept him away from their potential AL playoff opponents, almost all of whom needed a starting pitcher.

The Diamondbacks bulk up their farm system with four prospects from the Astros: Corbin Martin, Seth Beer, J.B. Bukauskas and Josh Rojas. In addition, the Diamondbacks will send $24 million to the Astros, with Houston assuming the remaining $53 million on Greinke’s contract.

Here are the initial thoughts from The Athletic MLB’s national writers, along with our Astros and Diamondbacks reporters.

Ken Rosenthal, The Athletic MLB

On July 23, I sent the following text to an Astros official:

“Question for you, given the struggles of (Forrest) Whitley and (J.B.) Bukauskas and injury to (Corbin) Martin (and I know you don’t want to trade Kyle Tucker). How much does all this make things more difficult in trade talks?”

The official replied as you might expect, saying that he was not at all concerned, that the Astros’ system was plenty deep, stocked with attractive players. I thought to myself, “OK, but the regressions and injuries surely will be an issue for them come the deadline.”

Shows how much I know.

The Astros pulled off their blockbuster for Greinke by parting with two of the pitchers I mentioned — Bukauskus, who has a 5.25 ERA at Double A this season, and Martin, who recently underwent Tommy John surgery. They also sent the D-Backs first baseman Seth Beer and infielder Joshua Rojas while receiving $24 million from Arizona to help cover the remaining $77 million on Greinke’s contract.

As if that wasn’t enough, the Astros further bolstered their pitching by adding right-handers Aaron Sanchez and Joe Biagini from the Blue Jays in exchange for outfielder Derek Fisher, who did not figure into Houston’s long-term plans. In short, it was a tour de force on a day in which two other World Series contenders, the Yankees and Dodgers, accomplished virtually nothing.

Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow has now completed the two biggest trades of the past three years: the Aug. 31 deadline deal for Justin Verlander in 2017 and the Greinke extravaganza. The first led to a World Series title. The second might very well do the same.

After the Greinke shocker, the Astros official sent me back that text I had sent him on July 23.

What could I say?

Touché!

Jayson Stark, The Athletic MLB

Their Game 1 starter will be the major-league leader in WHIP — Mr. Justin Verlander (0.81).

Their Game 2 starter will be the major-league leader in strikeout rate — the ferocious Gerrit Cole (13.3 K/9).

Their Game 3 starter will be the guy currently leading the National League in WHIP — the enigmatically brilliant Zack Greinke (0.94).

That’s how those terrifying Houston Astros figure to line up in October, after swinging the Deal of the Deadline on Wednesday — with a mere “couple of seconds” to spare before the trade deadline came crashing down, according to one baseball official.

OK, repeat after me: Holy moly! That rotation doesn’t guarantee them another parade, obviously. But look around.

The Yankees went fishing for starters and couldn’t hook even one. The Indians subtracted Trevor Bauer. The Red Sox couldn’t find a single bullpen arm they had the prospects to deal for. And over in the NL, the Dodgers had no more late-inning bullpen dominators on the roster by dinner than they had at breakfast.

So who is better than the Astros — a team chasing its third consecutive 100-win season, with a roster full of guys who have already been fitted for World Series rings and now a rotation fronted by three of the five best starting pitchers in baseball this year? That answer is: nobody.

In fairness to the Yankees, Greinke was never going to waive his no-trade clause to go to New York. Madison Bumgarner was never seriously in play. The Diamondbacks stared them down on Robbie Ray and never blinked. And Marcus Stroman apparently was never as high on that Bronx shopping list as we rumor-spreaders made him out to be.

Nevertheless, as one NL exec texted me Wednesday afternoon, here are your prospective ALCS matchups:

Verlander, Cole, Greinke vs. Tanaka, Happ, Paxton.

Whoa. I think I get the message. There are reasonable explanations for why the Astros pounced and the Yankees punted. Nevertheless, we just saw a seismic shift toward Texas in the American League Richter scale readings. And that earth won’t stop shaking until Halloween.

Zach Buchanan, The Athletic Arizona

This trade is momentous for the Diamondbacks all by itself — Greinke is an ace, an ageless wonder and also the highest-paid player in team history by a long shot. That the Diamondbacks are receiving more than $50 million in salary relief along with four prospects (most of whom are notable, but none of whom are without their detractors) changes the face of the organization.

But the Diamondbacks also made three (three!) other trades in the final hour-plus heading into the deadline. They traded away their preseason top prospect in Jazz Chisholm for rookie starter Zac Gallen from the Marlins. They acquired Mike Leake — and his contract, heavily discounted by the Mariners — for a non-prospect. They traded Triple-A catcher John Ryan Murphy to the Braves for cash.

It will take time to determine just what this all means for the organization. They’ve thinned their shortstop and catcher depth in the short term, freed up a significant amount of money and added to the farm system. They bought and sold at the same time, preserving their chance at the wild card. We’ll have to wait to find out how successful they were, on both counts.

Jake Kaplan, The Athletic Houston

Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow managed to pull off another blockbuster without giving up his top prospect. In Greinke, the Astros got a Game 3 starter to slot in behind Verlander and Cole and push Wade Miley to a Game 4. They also set themselves up for a Verlander-Greinke-Lance McCullers 1-2-3 in 2020 and 2021, if they’re not able to re-sign Cole in the offseason.

Though the Astros held on to Kyle Tucker and Forrest Whitley, they paid a steep price to land Greinke. Martin, Beer and Bukauskas are arguably their next-best three prospects, and Rojas is a potential super-utility player who can play in the majors soon. Combined, they represent a prospect package arguably better than what the Astros sent the Tigers for Verlander on Aug. 31, 2017, and definitely superior to what they dealt to the Pirates for Cole on Jan. 13, 2018.

Marc Carig, The Athletic MLB

The Astros have faced criticism for offenses like taking the soul out of the game because of their reliance on analytics. But when it comes to improving their team at the trade deadline, they sure have some old-school tendencies. While much of the league was hugging its prospects at 4 p.m. ET, the Astros pushed four of theirs onto the table for Greinke.

No doubt, the farm system takes a hit. But the addition of Greinke (and Aaron Sanchez in a separate deal) makes the Astros favorites in the American League.

This also makes it twice now that the Astros have outmaneuvered the Yankees in the race for an impact arm. It was in 2017 when the Astros pulled off a waiver trade to land Verlander, partly because of what the Yankees called financial constraints. This summer, it was clear that the Astros and Yankees needed pitching reinforcements. Again, it was the Astros that moved the needle, with the Yankees relegated to the sidelines.

That’s not to say that the Yankees should have acquired Greinke in particular. But the situation demanded action, and on multiple fronts, they passed. The Astros answered the call, and they’ll probably be rewarded for it.

Eno Sarris, The Athletic MLB

Zack Greinke is 35 and his fastball averages under 90 mph. Here is the complete list of other starters that can say both of those things:

  • Jason Vargas
  • CC Sabathia
  • Adam Wainwright

Apologies to the crew, but none of those guys is getting the prospect haul that Greinke returned from the Astros, despite his new team owing him another $53 million after the conclusion of this season. Maybe I’m just saying that because Beer was involved.

The key to Greinke’s longevity has been constant innovation in an already wide arsenal — he added a power change to a plus slider, and this year has been using the slow curve more often as this season has gone on. But another key is his command. He has top-10 overall command in the big leagues (by Command+), and the only other qualified starter with five pitches with plus command by that stat is Masahiro Tanaka.

The way Greinke thinks about baseball is the way the Astros coaching staff thinks about baseball, too. If anyone can keep this machine chugging its way to Cooperstown, it’s the Astros.

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
TheFlagship

TheFlagship 432

Posted
Posted

Top Hitters in July by fWAR:

AL:

1) Gurriel (HOU), .398/.427/837, 1.9 fWAR

t2) Trout (LAA), .286/.392/.821, 1.8 fWAR

t2) Devers (BOS), .358/.408/.734, 1.8 fWAR

t2) Laureano (OAK), .392/.443/.838, 1.8 fWAR

5) Betts (BOS), .373/.438/.647, 1.6 fWAR

NL:

1) Hiura (MIL), .355/.429/.699, 1.5 fWAR

2) Yelich (MIL), .352/.441/.670, 1.4 fWAR

t3) Marte (ARI), .333/.426/.552, 1.2 fWAR

t3) Donaldson (ATL), .264/.396/.655, 1.2 fWAR

t5) Suarez (CIN), .289/.353/.733, 1.1 fWAR

t5) Goldschmidt (STL), .308/.360/.725, 1.1 fWAR

t5) Rendon (WAS), .333/.420/.552, 1.1 fWAR

t5) Tatis Jr. (SD), .314/.355/.588, 1.1 fWAR

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Scraps

Scraps 13562

Posted
Posted
Here you go Snacks.  Whack your pud till it falls off:
By The Athletic Staff Jul 31, 2019comment-icon@2x.png 134 save-icon@2x.png Just as the trade deadline seemed to be going out with a whimper, Ken Rosenthal broke the news: Arizona Diamondbacks ace Zack Greinke is heading to the Houston Astros. It’s a huge move for the Astros, who add arguably the best starter who was available, a Cy Young winner and six-time All-Star who is 10-4 with 2.87 ERA, 3.9 WAR and a 7.11 K/BB ratio in 141 innings this season. In the process, they also kept him away from their potential AL playoff opponents, almost all of whom needed a starting pitcher.
The Diamondbacks bulk up their farm system with four prospects from the Astros: Corbin Martin, Seth Beer, J.B. Bukauskas and Josh Rojas. In addition, the Diamondbacks will send $24 million to the Astros, with Houston assuming the remaining $53 million on Greinke’s contract.
Here are the initial thoughts from The Athletic MLB’s national writers, along with our Astros and Diamondbacks reporters.

Ken Rosenthal, The Athletic MLB

On July 23, I sent the following text to an Astros official:
“Question for you, given the struggles of (Forrest) Whitley and (J.B.) Bukauskas and injury to (Corbin) Martin (and I know you don’t want to trade Kyle Tucker). How much does all this make things more difficult in trade talks?”
The official replied as you might expect, saying that he was not at all concerned, that the Astros’ system was plenty deep, stocked with attractive players. I thought to myself, “OK, but the regressions and injuries surely will be an issue for them come the deadline.”
Shows how much I know.
The Astros pulled off their blockbuster for Greinke by parting with two of the pitchers I mentioned — Bukauskus, who has a 5.25 ERA at Double A this season, and Martin, who recently underwent Tommy John surgery. They also sent the D-Backs first baseman Seth Beer and infielder Joshua Rojas while receiving $24 million from Arizona to help cover the remaining $77 million on Greinke’s contract.
As if that wasn’t enough, the Astros further bolstered their pitching by adding right-handers Aaron Sanchez and Joe Biagini from the Blue Jays in exchange for outfielder Derek Fisher, who did not figure into Houston’s long-term plans. In short, it was a tour de force on a day in which two other World Series contenders, the Yankees and Dodgers, accomplished virtually nothing.
Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow has now completed the two biggest trades of the past three years: the Aug. 31 deadline deal for Justin Verlander in 2017 and the Greinke extravaganza. The first led to a World Series title. The second might very well do the same.
After the Greinke shocker, the Astros official sent me back that text I had sent him on July 23.
What could I say?
Touché!

Jayson Stark, The Athletic MLB

Their Game 1 starter will be the major-league leader in WHIP — Mr. Justin Verlander (0.81).
Their Game 2 starter will be the major-league leader in strikeout rate — the ferocious Gerrit Cole (13.3 K/9).
Their Game 3 starter will be the guy currently leading the National League in WHIP — the enigmatically brilliant Zack Greinke (0.94).
That’s how those terrifying Houston Astros figure to line up in October, after swinging the Deal of the Deadline on Wednesday — with a mere “couple of seconds” to spare before the trade deadline came crashing down, according to one baseball official.
OK, repeat after me: Holy moly! That rotation doesn’t guarantee them another parade, obviously. But look around.
The Yankees went fishing for starters and couldn’t hook even one. The Indians subtracted Trevor Bauer. The Red Sox couldn’t find a single bullpen arm they had the prospects to deal for. And over in the NL, the Dodgers had no more late-inning bullpen dominators on the roster by dinner than they had at breakfast.
So who is better than the Astros — a team chasing its third consecutive 100-win season, with a roster full of guys who have already been fitted for World Series rings and now a rotation fronted by three of the five best starting pitchers in baseball this year? That answer is: nobody.
In fairness to the Yankees, Greinke was never going to waive his no-trade clause to go to New York. Madison Bumgarner was never seriously in play. The Diamondbacks stared them down on Robbie Ray and never blinked. And Marcus Stroman apparently was never as high on that Bronx shopping list as we rumor-spreaders made him out to be.
Nevertheless, as one NL exec texted me Wednesday afternoon, here are your prospective ALCS matchups:
Verlander, Cole, Greinke vs. Tanaka, Happ, Paxton.
Whoa. I think I get the message. There are reasonable explanations for why the Astros pounced and the Yankees punted. Nevertheless, we just saw a seismic shift toward Texas in the American League Richter scale readings. And that earth won’t stop shaking until Halloween.

Zach Buchanan, The Athletic Arizona

This trade is momentous for the Diamondbacks all by itself — Greinke is an ace, an ageless wonder and also the highest-paid player in team history by a long shot. That the Diamondbacks are receiving more than $50 million in salary relief along with four prospects (most of whom are notable, but none of whom are without their detractors) changes the face of the organization.
But the Diamondbacks also made three (three!) other trades in the final hour-plus heading into the deadline. They traded away their preseason top prospect in Jazz Chisholm for rookie starter Zac Gallen from the Marlins. They acquired Mike Leake — and his contract, heavily discounted by the Mariners — for a non-prospect. They traded Triple-A catcher John Ryan Murphy to the Braves for cash.
It will take time to determine just what this all means for the organization. They’ve thinned their shortstop and catcher depth in the short term, freed up a significant amount of money and added to the farm system. They bought and sold at the same time, preserving their chance at the wild card. We’ll have to wait to find out how successful they were, on both counts.

Jake Kaplan, The Athletic Houston

Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow managed to pull off another blockbuster without giving up his top prospect. In Greinke, the Astros got a Game 3 starter to slot in behind Verlander and Cole and push Wade Miley to a Game 4. They also set themselves up for a Verlander-Greinke-Lance McCullers 1-2-3 in 2020 and 2021, if they’re not able to re-sign Cole in the offseason.
Though the Astros held on to Kyle Tucker and Forrest Whitley, they paid a steep price to land Greinke. Martin, Beer and Bukauskas are arguably their next-best three prospects, and Rojas is a potential super-utility player who can play in the majors soon. Combined, they represent a prospect package arguably better than what the Astros sent the Tigers for Verlander on Aug. 31, 2017, and definitely superior to what they dealt to the Pirates for Cole on Jan. 13, 2018.

Marc Carig, The Athletic MLB

The Astros have faced criticism for offenses like taking the soul out of the game because of their reliance on analytics. But when it comes to improving their team at the trade deadline, they sure have some old-school tendencies. While much of the league was hugging its prospects at 4 p.m. ET, the Astros pushed four of theirs onto the table for Greinke.
No doubt, the farm system takes a hit. But the addition of Greinke (and Aaron Sanchez in a separate deal) makes the Astros favorites in the American League.
This also makes it twice now that the Astros have outmaneuvered the Yankees in the race for an impact arm. It was in 2017 when the Astros pulled off a waiver trade to land Verlander, partly because of what the Yankees called financial constraints. This summer, it was clear that the Astros and Yankees needed pitching reinforcements. Again, it was the Astros that moved the needle, with the Yankees relegated to the sidelines.
That’s not to say that the Yankees should have acquired Greinke in particular. But the situation demanded action, and on multiple fronts, they passed. The Astros answered the call, and they’ll probably be rewarded for it.

Eno Sarris, The Athletic MLB

Zack Greinke is 35 and his fastball averages under 90 mph. Here is the complete list of other starters that can say both of those things:
  • Jason Vargas
  • CC Sabathia
  • Adam Wainwright
Apologies to the crew, but none of those guys is getting the prospect haul that Greinke returned from the Astros, despite his new team owing him another $53 million after the conclusion of this season. Maybe I’m just saying that because Beer was involved.
The key to Greinke’s longevity has been constant innovation in an already wide arsenal — he added a power change to a plus slider, and this year has been using the slow curve more often as this season has gone on. But another key is his command. He has top-10 overall command in the big leagues (by Command+), and the only other qualified starter with five pitches with plus command by that stat is Masahiro Tanaka.
The way Greinke thinks about baseball is the way the Astros coaching staff thinks about baseball, too. If anyone can keep this machine chugging its way to Cooperstown, it’s the Astros.
 
Snacks or Scraps?

Regardless don't mind if I do!
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Beau Vine

Beau Vine 54247

Posted
Posted

DBacks talking to Henderson, NV:

Quote

Henderson has its eye on the big leagues.

Last year, Henderson officials quietly began a push to lure the Arizona Diamondbacks from the team’s Phoenix home to their city, records obtained by the Las Vegas Review-Journal show. Although discussions have stalled, the move signals Henderson’s desire to grow as a professional sports-caliber city.

“While a proposal for an Arizona Diamondbacks ballpark has not moved forward, the city of Henderson would welcome conversations with other major league franchises that may be considering a move to a different market,” the city said in a statement this week.

In a subsequent email, the city clarified it would be open to talking with any professional sports team looking to relocate.

Discussions between Henderson and the baseball team indicate that the city had put significant effort into its presentation. City Manager Richard Derrick signed a nondisclosure agreement dated July 31, 2018, with the Diamondbacks.

The city nicknamed the effort “Project Marble.”

In a slideshow submitted to the team, officials highlighted what they thought could come of a major league ballpark and surrounding development.

 

Renderings show a retractable-roof baseball stadium near St. Rose Parkway and Bermuda Road in rapidly growing west Henderson, which city officials envision as a hub for sports and entertainment. The proposed site, one of four floated by the city, sits behind the future headquarters and practice facility of the NFL’s Raiders.

According to the presentation, Henderson hired a consultant to conduct a financial analysis, assuming the ballpark would have 32,000 seats and space for 4,000 standing-room-only ticket holders. The Diamondbacks would serve as the primary tenant for a 30-year term and the stadium would be publicly owned and exempt from property tax.

The consultant estimated the ballpark would cost about $1 billion to construct.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Johnny Sack

Johnny Sack 8397

Posted
Posted
9 hours ago, Beau Vine said:

Here you go Snacks.  Whack your pud till it falls off:

 

With Alvarez in the lineup and all our guys back, I’ll put the Astros lineup and ability to wear our pitchers against anyone’s.  Including the Yankees.  If Reddick pulled a hammy and Tucker replaced him, it would be even better.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites
WBT

WBT 20606

Posted
Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, Pato del Muerto said:

Lucroy:  dfa’d by marisnek 

they cant all be winners like the josh Hamilton, Gary Matthews, or CJ Wilson signings. 

and pujols.  and everyone always forgets about vernon wells (took on the contract in trade but still)

Edited by WBT
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Sbbruin

Sbbruin 21858

Posted
Posted
15 minutes ago, Beau Vine said:

Here's another one of those weird scheduling things we keep seeing this season -- four teams have the day off today.  

Have teams had Fridays off in the past?

It used to be ONLY Mondays and Thursdays were potential days off.  I know they are trying to avoid teams playing too many days in a row, but you gotta have butts in seats on the weekends.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
 Share
Go to topic listing


Football ... Basketball ... Baseball ... Other Sports ... Futbol ... 🤫995🤫 ... Gambling ... Movies & TV ... Music ... Hobbies ... Lulz ... Food & Travel ... Daily Texan ... Business and Markets ... Cloak Room ... Help ... For Sale ... Board Discussion ... Subscribe!... Donate!... Advertise... COOKIE MONSTER!

×
×
  • Create New...