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The Official 2015 MLB Thread

Discussion in 'Other Sports Forum' started by finyank13, Mar 9, 2015.

  1. Ray Finkle

    Ray Finkle Member

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    I think a lot of it has to do with the way the team acts though. It's kind of the old chicken and egg thing. They're angry because they're getting hit by pitches but they're also hitting other teams with pitches and also yelling and screaming at opposing players. The cycle isn't going to end unless they themselves end it, otherwise by the time the season is over the other 29 teams are going to want blood from them.
     
  2. Boik14

    Boik14 Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    Difference of opinion. I enjoy the strategy of the NL game a lot more. You have to make decisions at big moments. You have to decide in the 7th inning of a 3-3 game to remove your pitcher or let him hit. I dont think theyre at a disadvantage so much as they do a poor job of utilizing their advantages.
     
  3. BlameItOnTheHenne

    BlameItOnTheHenne Taking a poop

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    The problem with the pitcher hitting is that many times a pitcher is taken out when he absolutely rolling through a lineup. Pitchers shouldn't be taken out of good starts just because his spot is due up.
     
  4. Ray Finkle

    Ray Finkle Member

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    Agree its a difference of opinion.

    There's also not a lot of strategy of the NL game vs. AL game, it's basically paint by numbers of a runner is on base with less then 2 outs and the pitcher is up let's bunt him over or pitcher is on deck so we can work around a hitter. The only big decisions managers have to make is your example above and usually pitch counts will be the deciding factor.

    I absolutely think they're at a disadvantage because they don't have the DH spot to fall back on for players while AL teams do so they can take more risks in signing FAs so if a player like Miguel Cabrera for example starts to slow down later in his career they can put him in the DH spot so he can just worry about hitting to keep him fresh. Or if a career DH, like David Ortiz, is a FA no NL team would even think about signing him so they miss out on a big productive bat. Also AL teams can use the DH spot to keep a bat in the line up but give a player a "half day off".

    I do think ultimately the NL will get a DH and a few years after it the majority of fans will love it.
     
  5. Ray Finkle

    Ray Finkle Member

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    Yeah this is obviously a good example among others. Sure its fun to see Bartolo Colon try to swing at a pitch every once and awhile but again, maybe it's just me, but I'd rather see a real hitter at the plate. Obviously I don't root for a NL based team but would be beyond frustrated to have a big spot early in the game go to waste because of the pitcher being up.
     
  6. Boik14

    Boik14 Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    IMO dh's are only half a baseball player. They don't field a position and they sit on a bench half the game. What kind of nonsense is that. The DH is a union contrived position created simply to appease players past their primes who can still hit but can't field worth a damn in most cases and to create more jobs. One of the worst ideas in the history of modern pro sports.
     
  7. Ray Finkle

    Ray Finkle Member

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    One can argue that although pitchers technically "bat" they're still just half a baseball player too. I mean let's face it pitchers don't/can't hit, very few actually field their position very well and none add any value to the base paths.

    Also what about relief pitchers? Aren't they like less than a half of a baseball player, especially the LOOGYs who only pitch to maybe 1 batter each appearance. It's extremely rare that they ever bat or run the bases. So should we get rid of them too?

    I never got the half a player argument, especially since it's not like DHs can't play the field, it's just that the majority of them would hurt their team because of their (lack of) defense, much like how all of the pitchers would hurt their team going up to the plate.
     
  8. Boik14

    Boik14 Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    You may as well have a "cherry picker" position in basketball and hockey for the players that suck on defense and are good on offense. Same principle. Useless. Having a DH is the dumbest thing in all of pro sports.
     
  9. Boik14

    Boik14 Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    The NL has consistently out homered the AL over the last 20 years. JV nothing. I don't care about Ortiz. Martinez was passable enough at 1b or 3B IMO he would have been fine. Edgar would have been the only Dh I would have actually missed but he was good enough with the bat that a team would have dealt his defense at a corner position or maybe LF.
     
  10. Boik14

    Boik14 Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    Relief pitcher...it's just the nature if the position. I get what you're saying with regard to that but situational baseball is a strategy. It's not the same to me. Some pitchers are actually very good hitters. CC Sabathia was/is one. There are a few others.
     
  11. Ray Finkle

    Ray Finkle Member

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    I'd hope the NL would have out homered the AL over the last 20 years considering before the 2013 season they had 2 more teams in the NL. Worth noting that since 2013 when each league had an equal 15 teams that the AL has outhomered the NL. Not sure what the point of that is though. What does that even prove? You could look at it as the NL has worse pitching than the AL, I guess too.

    A better example of the NL being JV would be the records of AL vs. NL in interleague play. Although with the way the offensive game in baseball has changed over the last 3 to 4 years I'd say the gap between the two leagues is pretty close, if there even is a gap anymore.

    I do think the DH position helped guys prolong their careers, especially to keep guys fresh and healthier, and obviously it helped Frank Thomas and Paul Molitor make it to the HOF. The DH position isn't a bad thing.
     
  12. Ray Finkle

    Ray Finkle Member

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    Sabathia is a career .225/.232/.333/.565 hitter, so while that is good for a pitcher it's still terrible. Rick Ankiel, who had a pretty remarkable MLB career if you think about it, was a .240/.302/.422/.724 career hitter (.207/.258/.310/.568 as a pitcher) which is still awful too. A position player wouldn't have a job at the MLB level if he had that career slash line unless he was an outstanding utility defensive replacement, even then he'd probably always be on the MLB/Triple A taxi train for his career.

    Pitchers just aren't good hitters and are pretty much an automatic out. I'd rather watch a half of a player bat than a pitcher any day of the week. Watching a pitcher bat, especially in a big spot, does nothing for me and if anything takes away from the game.
     
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  13. finyank13

    finyank13 Reality Check

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    This....
     
  14. Ray Finkle

    Ray Finkle Member

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    Interesting tibits regarding the DH:

    Craig Calcaterra pointed out on Twitter today that only 4 DHs qualified for the batting title last year so the DH position is no longer a place to put the no glove/overweight sluggers (aka David Ortizs of the world), teams are using the position much differently now, using it more for match up/platoons and keeping guys fresh.

    Matthew Pouliot tweeted out these pitcher stat lines:
    1975: .150/.196/.181
    1985: .140/.178/.176
    1995: .148/.186/.191
    2005: .148/.180/.190
    2014: .122/.153/.152
    2015: .089/.111/.103

    Yeah, no thanks in seeing pitchers bat. Those numbers make Jackie Bradley Jr. look like an All Star and boarderline HOFer.
     
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  15. Ray Finkle

    Ray Finkle Member

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    Wow the Marlins DFAed Jarrod Saltalamacchia, who they still owe 15 million to. I'm sure some team will take a flier on him.

    Also the Hamilton trade is complete.
     
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  16. Vengeful Odin

    Vengeful Odin Norse Mod

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    I still like KC. I think it's ludicrous that Ventura got 7 games while Samardizja got 5, with Samoron throwing punches. That's just stupid. I think that the team is tired of opposing teams trying to bully them and they are standing up for themselves. I agree that Ventura could have handled the situation better but the rest is pretty ridiculous. Samardjunkless and Sale both should have been hit with harder suspensions than they were.

    The Lorenzo Cain thing goes back to Opening Day, where Samaridiot (seeing a pattern here?) hit him after giving up a HR in 10-1 rout. That's what started this whole thing.
     
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  17. finyank13

    finyank13 Reality Check

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    One thing about baseball they wont let this stuff get out of hand, players will get whacked and whacked hard if this continues....
     
  18. BlameItOnTheHenne

    BlameItOnTheHenne Taking a poop

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    Lol the DH is the dumbest thing in sports? Hyperbolic much?
     
  19. Ray Finkle

    Ray Finkle Member

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    Everyone knows the dumbest thing in sports is the Yankees.
     
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  20. Boik14

    Boik14 Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    It's not a generalization. It's a fact. Most of the players who are DH's are crappy fielders and that's why they're DHs. They have no real position. It is a position contrived by the players union that was Inputted to create more jobs. That is a fact as well. Keep it in the AL. Baseball is a sport. Sports require strategy and athleticism. If a player doesn't care enough to handle the bat stay in the damn AL. And No thank you to 4 and a half hour games like the AL has.
     
  21. finyank13

    finyank13 Reality Check

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    Yankees bullpen is downright scary right now and is what is keeping them afloat...
     
  22. finyank13

    finyank13 Reality Check

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    Dude was just looking at stats, holy **** the Cubs infield in a few years is going to be off the chains....
     
  23. Ray Finkle

    Ray Finkle Member

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    Continuing on with the DH debate, Max Scherzer has a pretty good quote on the subject:

     
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  24. Ray Finkle

    Ray Finkle Member

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    What's athletic about seeing pitchers hit a combined .122/.153/.152 like they did last year while striking out 40% of the time? I'd much rather watch Victor Martinez or David Ortiz hit a baseball then Jon Lester or Clayton Kershaw. The majority of pitchers don't really care about hitting or practice it much. They're paid to pitch and they know that. Again there's no added strategy in the NL without the DH, as most pinch hitting decisions are automatic depending on the score/inning.

    Think about it this way, the NL is the only professional league where pitchers are forced to bat. Even in the minors leagues pitchers don't bat. So if you're a pitcher in the NL, you get drafted out of high school/college and spend 3 or 4 years, at least, in the minor leagues never touching or swinging a bat and once you get called up you're asked to do something you haven't done in years against pro pitchers?

    Maybe it's time the NL gets with the times and evolves.
     
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  25. Ray Finkle

    Ray Finkle Member

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    So you're saying the Cubs were smart to hold onto Rizzo instead of dumping him after a few tough years in his early 20s?

    By the way, looking at Rizzo's stats make me hate Adrian Gonzalez and that trade even more. So it worked out fine in the end for the Sox but imagine a Sox line up of Betts, Pedroia, Ortiz, Hanley, Rizzo, Sandoval, Bogaerts, Castillo and Vasquez/Swihart.
     
  26. Nappy Roots

    Nappy Roots Well-Known Member

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    I do agree 100%. But in AA and AAA when two NL teams face off, pitchers do hit...
     
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  27. Ray Finkle

    Ray Finkle Member

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    What? Really? I honestly had no idea and even some of the articles I've read in the past few days about adding a DH to the NL talked about how pitchers don't bat in the minors. Go figure.

    Thanks for clearing that up. I haven't gone to a minor league game in years maybe 2009 or 2010ish and when I did go it was always to see two AL teams play.
     
  28. finyank13

    finyank13 Reality Check

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    Oh I dont think there was ever a doubt they were going to keep him....I was ribbing you saying he was a bust after one year, it is like saying Betts is a bust....
     
  29. Ray Finkle

    Ray Finkle Member

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    Don't you ever speak or even think any ill will towards Mookie!
     
  30. Ray Finkle

    Ray Finkle Member

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    So what's the Vegas line for the over/under date that Tanaka needs TJ surgery?
     
  31. finyank13

    finyank13 Reality Check

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    About the same as how quick we see Henry Owens?

    As of right now they are saying it is a wrist and forearm strain out one month......this is to be expected, only good thing is nobody should run away with the ALE in a month because nobody can pitch...
     
  32. Ray Finkle

    Ray Finkle Member

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    Owens is maybe 4th in line for a call up behind Barnes, Johnson and Rodriguez.

    But yeah the AL East is pretty freaking bad overall. Everyone should really be in the race all year.
     
  33. Nappy Roots

    Nappy Roots Well-Known Member

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    Tanaka should just go ahead and get the TJ and get it over with. Should have before.
     
  34. MikeHoncho

    MikeHoncho -=| Censored |=-

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    The Orioles/Whitesox fanless game is the saddest damn thing to watch.
     
  35. finyank13

    finyank13 Reality Check

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    Maybe they should play all the time in front of nobody....This whole thing is ridiculous they should have never closed the doors to the fans..
     
  36. Ray Finkle

    Ray Finkle Member

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    With riots going on in the city, it needs all the police force they can get to help, plus there was no guarantee that there wouldn't be a riot inside the park. For the players safety I don't know how anyone would disagree with the ruling.
     
  37. finyank13

    finyank13 Reality Check

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    Expect for that there are no more riots anymore.....Hell that game against the Sox was much worse in terms of violence outside the Park.....
     
  38. Ray Finkle

    Ray Finkle Member

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    I don't think it was the Orioles call, I think the city wouldn't allow it.
     
  39. Ray Finkle

    Ray Finkle Member

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  40. finyank13

    finyank13 Reality Check

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    It was actually pretty cool to watch it sans people....INSANE how everything sounds....even just offspeed stuff, everything pops in the mitt....the sounds of the bat making contact, it was just amplified w/o people....

    Interesting tidbit, the players have to be PA announced because then it isnt an official AB....also I guess Jones was on deck and in the booth the radio guys were talking about him and he looked up and smiled because he heard them hahahahaha
     

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