The Hey its 2021 now guys MLB thread

[WI_Inferiority_Complexes1]

Through 10 starts, DeGrom has more RBI than Earned Runs.

[Jockey]

Let’s see what happens after they take the sticky stuff away from him.

[PGsHeroes32]

Let’s see what happens after they take the sticky stuff away from him.

LO......................L

[JWags85]

Let’s see what happens after they take the sticky stuff away from him.

Dude is throwing over 100 with regularity, and is throwing sliders at 93-95 MPH.  Dude is just a freak of nature who throws blisteringly fast pitches with accuracy and control.  Not some spin master aided by sticky stuff

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Dude is throwing over 100 with regularity, and is throwing sliders at 93-95 MPH.  Dude is just a freak of nature who throws blisteringly fast pitches with accuracy and control.  Not some spin master aided by sticky stuff

I agree... except I think they all use sticky stuff

[StillAWarrior]

Gerrit Cole’s answer to the Spider Tack question was cringe worthy.

Cringe worthy? Sure. But also one of the funniest things I've seen in sports in a long, long time. I was flooded with memories of dealing with my son when he was three.

"Son, did you eat the cookie?"
"Ummm...I don't....I don't know, uh, uh...I..I don't know if uh...I don't know quite...I don't quite know how to answer that to be honest."

YouTube link to the interview

[Jockey]

Dude is throwing over 100 with regularity, and is throwing sliders at 93-95 MPH.  Dude is just a freak of nature who throws blisteringly fast pitches with accuracy and control.  Not some spin master aided by sticky stuff

Yes he is the best pitcher in baseball right now. Yes, he uses sticky stuff to enhance what he does.

[JWags85]

Yes he is the best pitcher in baseball right now. Yes, he uses sticky stuff to enhance what he does.

Ok man.  Be more miserable and high and mighty about it.  He’s absolutely unreal, putting up insane numbers, has never been suspected of anything shady, but you choose to shade his performance cause you don’t like the state of current pitching.

[Jockey]

Ok man.  Be more miserable and high and mighty about it.  He’s absolutely unreal, putting up insane numbers, has never been suspected of anything shady, but you choose to shade his performance cause you don’t like the state of current pitching.

Bonds and McGwire put up unreal numbers with the aid of a substance. DeGrom is doing the same.

[jficke13]

Ok man.  Be more miserable and high and mighty about it.  He’s absolutely unreal, putting up insane numbers, has never been suspected of anything shady, but you choose to shade his performance cause you don’t like the state of current pitching.

FWIW I think it's possible to be awed by DeGrom's performance and also be realistic about the fact that 100% of pitchers are using grip enhancers. These things are not mutually exclusive.

[JWags85]

FWIW I think it's possible to be awed by DeGrom's performance and also be realistic about the fact that 100% of pitchers are using grip enhancers. These things are not mutually exclusive.

I have nothing against being realistic.  But the response to someone who is amazing to watch right now being “yea let’s see him take X away” like he’s flagrantly cheating or using something is just so curmudgeon-esque. 

Like you said, 100% of pitchers are doing it, but yet DeGrom has an era 0.75 lower than the next closest and a full point below others in the top 5.  You could remove all grip enhancers and he’d still be the best doing it. That’s all I’m saying.

[PGsHeroes32]

Bonds and McGwire put up unreal numbers with the aid of a substance. DeGrom is doing the same.

Just to be clear(will be helpful for myself and any rational baseball fan)

When you post are you trying to be the biggest dumbass possible?

[jficke13]

I have nothing against being realistic.  But the response to someone who is amazing to watch right now being “yea let’s see him take X away” like he’s flagrantly cheating or using something is just so curmudgeon-esque. 

Like you said, 100% of pitchers are doing it, but yet DeGrom has an era 0.75 lower than the next closest and a full point below others in the top 5.  You could remove all grip enhancers and he’d still be the best doing it. That’s all I’m saying.

Ah, totally fair. And while I generally think a move to reduce the tack will be good for the viewing product, I'm not so joyless as to not be entertained by pitchers throwing smoke in the meantime.

[MU82]

Baseball Reference Adds Negro Leagues Statistics, Rewriting Its Record Book

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/15/sports/baseball/baseball-reference-negro-leagues.html?campaign_id=9&emc=edit_nn_20210615&instance_id=33021&nl=the-morning&regi_id=108420427&segment_id=60700&te=1&user_id=d36dcf821462fdd16ec3636710a855fa

The lead:

On Monday, Baseball Reference, the go-to source on the internet for such matters, would have told you that Stan Musial led the major leagues with a .357 batting average in 1943. It also would have said numerous pitchers took a turn leading the majors in strikeouts per nine innings between 1927 and 1945, and that the top three batters in career adjusted on-base-plus-slugging percentage were Babe Ruth, Ted Williams and Barry Bonds.

A day later, all of that looks much different. Now, Josh Gibson of the Homestead Grays has surpassed Musial with a .466 average in 1943. Satchel Paige, a dominant pitcher for more than 20 seasons, has taken over eight of those strikeout titles. And Oscar Charleston, perhaps the finest all-around player in Negro leagues history, has bumped Bonds for the third-best career mark in adjusted O.P.S.

“A lot of new books on baseball trivia will be coming out in the next few years,” Sean Forman, the founder and president of Sports Reference, joked on a video call ahead of his baseball site’s announcement on Tuesday that it had dramatically changed and expanded its accounting of the Negro leagues. The move comes ahead of Major League Baseball’s own plans to incorporate the statistics into their historical record, which could happen this coming off-season.

The reason for Baseball Reference’s adjustment date to August, when Forman said he read an article about how players from the Negro leagues remained uncounted among the official major leagues and that Major League Baseball was considering formally recognizing several of those leagues as on par with its American and National leagues.

Until 1947, Black players had been excluded from the major leagues. And long after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier, the accomplishments of most Black players remained overlooked. A committee of five white men in 1969 granted major league status to four defunct organizations, but chose not to include the Negro leagues, an omission M.L.B. called “clearly an error” in December when it announced it was finally redressing that past racial wrong and bestowing “long overdue recognition” to more than 3,400 payers from seven distinct Negro leagues that operated between 1920 and 1948.

[MUBurrow]

Ah, totally fair. And while I generally think a move to reduce the tack will be good for the viewing product, I'm not so joyless as to not be entertained by pitchers throwing smoke in the meantime.

I'm kind of surprised that the move by MLB is to outlaw all tack and that the pitchers are just going along with it.  I know it is "cheating" and after the Astros everyone's antennae are on the lookout for things that are against the rules.  But I think we have to assume that just about every single pitcher in the game has been using some kind of tack at this point.  And while offense has been down, there are good things about pitchers having a little more control.  When Giancarlo Stanton has his face rearranged again, are we going to be talking about reintroducing some kind of permissible tack? I thought MLB would introduce an "official" approved substance, rather than outlaw everything wholesale.

[StillAWarrior]

I'm kind of surprised that the move by MLB is to outlaw all tack and that the pitchers are just going along with it.  I know it is "cheating" and after the Astros everyone's antennae are on the lookout for things that are against the rules.  But I think we have to assume that just about every single pitcher in the game has been using some kind of tack at this point.  And while offense has been down, there are good things about pitchers having a little more control.  When Giancarlo Stanton has his face rearranged again, are we going to be talking about reintroducing some kind of permissible tack? I thought MLB would introduce an "official" approved substance, rather than outlaw everything wholesale.

Haven't they been using rosin bags in the MLB forever? Do they still? Is that the only acceptable tack?

[jficke13]

When the substance stuff shakes out, I hope the airbender still works. It's fun as heck to watch. (It probably won't work).

[Pakuni]

I'm kind of surprised that the move by MLB is to outlaw all tack and that the pitchers are just going along with it.

The pitchers definitely aren't just going along with it. A lot of upset pitchers out there (see: Tyler Glasnow, Trevor Bauer).
I kind of see their point, in that it seems unfair for MLB to abruptly change things midseason. That said, their argument ultimately comes down to "it's unfair to stop us from cheating now after allowing us to cheat before."

[Mutaman]

How about those Redlegs!

[PGsHeroes32]

The pitchers definitely aren't just going along with it. A lot of upset pitchers out there (see: Tyler Glasnow, Trevor Bauer).
I kind of see their point, in that it seems unfair for MLB to abruptly change things midseason. That said, their argument ultimately comes down to "it's unfair to stop us from cheating now after allowing us to cheat before."

Depends on the "cheating". What most of them are complaining about is removing of EVERYTHING sans rosin.

Technically everything beyond that was "cheating" by definition but no one even the hitters considered mixing in things like sunscreen as bad. It's all about the advanced enhancers like Spider Track. But MLB decided to just go over the top.

Even the hitters want guys to have a solid grip, safer for everyone involved.

[WI_Inferiority_Complexes1]

The fact this Sunday Night Baseball’s ESPN National telecast is Cardinals at Braves- instead of the White Sox at Astros- epitomizes MLB having no idea how to market itself.

[Jockey]

Depends on the "cheating". What most of them are complaining about is removing of EVERYTHING sans rosin.

Technically everything beyond that was "cheating" by definition but no one even the hitters considered mixing in things like sunscreen as bad. It's all about the advanced enhancers like Spider Track. But MLB decided to just go over the top.

Even the hitters want guys to have a solid grip, safer for everyone involved.

Sounds good - except it is wrong. More batters are getting hit now than anytime in the last 100+ years.

[JWags85]

The pitchers definitely aren't just going along with it. A lot of upset pitchers out there (see: Tyler Glasnow, Trevor Bauer).
I kind of see their point, in that it seems unfair for MLB to abruptly change things midseason. That said, their argument ultimately comes down to "it's unfair to stop us from cheating now after allowing us to cheat before."

Bauer is pissed cause he pointed/called it out on the past, was largely ignored, said screw it and everything progressed. And now they are jumping to it and swinging AGGRESSIVELY back the other way. MLB has always been tone deaf so it’s not exactly surprising

[Jockey]

Bauer is pissed cause he pointed/called it out on the past, was largely ignored, said screw it and everything progressed. And now they are jumping to it and swinging AGGRESSIVELY back the other way. MLB has always been tone deaf so it’s not exactly surprising

They are doing it mid-season for one basic reason. The CBA. They want the union fighting amongst themselves.

The NBA and NFL market their stars. MLB has never done that.

[GB Warrior]

Is there a league that hates its own sport more than MLB?