2023 MLB Thread

[tower912]

Watched it last year at minor league games.   Really moves things along.

[ZiggysFryBoy]

Went to the Brewers spring training game yesterday.   First pirchnif the game for the Brewers was a called strike against Blackmon, as he was taking his sweet time walking up to the box.

It was noticeable how much quicker the first 6 innings went.  Once the guys with high numbers and no names on their jerseys came in, the game slowed down a lot, since they were getting killed.

Was talking to a minor league coach, he says that base runners are going to try to draw throws, so they can get a bigger lead after 2 throw overs.   Crew picked off 2 runners.  Stolen base is back in play, the new base size looks like a pizza box.   

Didn't notice the new shift rules have any impact yesterday,  but it's nice not having an infielder playing rover like it's beer league softball.  The coach I was talking too said that Tellez is a top 5 guy that will benefit from no shift, so that's encouraging.


As a baseball purist, I like the changes.

[tower912]

Sounds like fun, Ziggy.   I hope you are getting some coaching ideas.   

[ZiggysFryBoy]

Sounds like fun, Ziggy.   I hope you are getting some coaching ideas.

He's put on some camps in  our area, he's a great hitting coach.  And relates to young players, it's good for them to hear new voices!

[Pakuni]

I don't know that this qualifies as an exoneration (probably not), but MLB isn't imposing any discipline on Mike Clevinger.

[MU82]

Southland Conference ump got suspended for this horrendous strike call. Good!

https://twitter.com/11point7/status/1634545884921774081

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

Southland Conference ump got suspended for this horrendous strike call. Good!

https://twitter.com/11point7/status/1634545884921774081

Hand it to the catcher who calmed the batter down there. That whole thing was ridiculous. 

[HutchwasClutch]

Southland Conference ump got suspended for this horrendous strike call. Good!

https://twitter.com/11point7/status/1634545884921774081

I saw this story last night. Really stunning. Umpire should be fired from any future NCAA work.  That was so egregious.   What a complete thin skinned a-hole. 

[Jockey]

Even Angel Hernandez could have gotten that call right.

[MU82]

I found out about it when one of my fellow youth-league umpires sent it to me.

I joked that if he were my partner and had called that strike, I'd have taken the bat and smashed him with it.

I will say the player overreacted to the previous strike call. It might have been a hair low, but it was right over the middle of the plate; we've all seen hundreds or more like that called. But to retaliate with that next call ... what a loser that ump is.

[CreightonWarrior]

Even Angel Hernandez could have gotten that call right.

Doubtful

[CTWarrior]

Look up Eric Gregg in the 1997 playoffs sometime.  He makes the guy in the Southland game look like a Hall of Famer.

[JWags85]

Hand it to the catcher who calmed the batter down there. That whole thing was ridiculous.

Yea that was big of him.  But I saw a freeze frame of their bench and it was all mouth open disbelief.  It may have benefited them but they all knew it was complete and utter trash.  The fact that the game was essentially over helped the sportsmanship I imagine.

[MU82]

From The Athletic:

It was a beautiful night for the World Baseball Classic until it wasn’t. Puerto Rico topped the Dominican Republic, 5-2, in the final game of pool play amid a raucous crowd in Miami. After closing out the win, Edwin Díaz — whom the Mets just gave the richest contract ever for a reliever — crumpled to the ground with a leg injury suffered while celebrating. Yeesh.

[DegenerateDish]

Edwin Diaz torn patellar tendon, out for the year.

[JWags85]

In contrast to Diaz, on the positives of the WBC...

The grandson of a good business associate and friend is in the DBacks farm system, just finished a year in Rookie Ball in AZ.  Unique because he's the first Orthodox Jewish player to ever be drafted.

So, he was selected for Team Israel for the WBC.  He's an intriguing prospect, but he's only 19 so he was mostly selected to gain experience and some seasoning.  He was excited to get to spend time with and learn from Dean Kremer, and getting the call from Ian Kinsler was cool.  They planned to get him some run in the exhibition games leading up to the WBC.

But, semi-unexpectantly, he got the start against the DR on Wed night.  Barely 10 starts in the minors and you're on the rubber against Machado and Soto.  But the kid DEALT.  Gave up 2H and an ER in 2 innings.  But struck out Machado, struck out Gary Sanchez, and struck out WS MVP Jeremy Pena.  Really cool stuff.  Great family and a good kid.  Also, in the highlights below, he gets an amazing look of respect from Soto after a fastball.

https://twitter.com/ILBaseball/status/1635797829401874433?s=20

Also the power and joy of grandkids.  His grandfather is a really nice guy.  But kind of the stereotype of a grumpy old NYC Jewish guy.  "How's business?" "hrumph, grumble gumble".  But talk baseball and Jacob?  Lights up like a Broadway marquee.

[MU82]

I’m sure there are plenty of positives to this exhibition tournament, but if I’m an owner paying these salaries, I don’t want any of my top 20 guys playing in it.

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

How are the ratings for this? I get what MLB is doing but are a lot of people watching this? My guess is the NCAA is going to rout this.

[JWags85]

How are the ratings for this? I get what MLB is doing but are a lot of people watching this? My guess is the NCAA is going to rout this.

Couple hundred thousand a game.  The US games don't do terribly, but obviously the NCAA will boat race it.

GB vs USA on Sat did slightly better ratings than the BE Championship game, for reference.

[dgies9156]

Look up Eric Gregg in the 1997 playoffs sometime.  He makes the guy in the Southland game look like a Hall of Famer.

Or Don Deckinger in the 1985 World Series.

Guy was blind as can be.

[tower912]

Jim Joyce says 'hi'.

[CreightonWarrior]

Jim Joyce says 'hi'.

At least Jim Joyce owned up to his mistake!

[tower912]

Fair point.  To build on it, there was nothing but class all around from the principals involved.

[CreightonWarrior]

My feelings on the WBC are incredibly indifferent. That being said, I happened to pop up on the game right as Trae Turner came up to bat in the 8th and the grand slam was awesome.

On the complete other end of the spectrum Altuve most likely fractured his hand on a HBP. I wonder how these types of injuries will factor into future contract clauses a la the Jay Williams motorcycle clause.

[MU82]

If you need to do the WBC every 3 years, why not hold it in warm-weather climates in, say, early December?

That way, if someone does get hurt, he has time to recover by the spring or summer. Or even just the wear-and-tear thing ... instead of squeezing in this tournament after a couple weeks of spring training and right before the season starts, give players a couple months to recover from the past season and a couple months to rest again until spring training. It's not as if most athletes aren't working out all year long anyway.

In that respect, it would be kind of like NBA players participating in the Olympics in August every 4 years.

Yes, any athlete can get hurt any time. Ballplayers can get hurt in spring-training exhibitions, in the batting cage, riding a motorcycle, whenever.

But it's still hard for me to wrap my head around why any owner would want his 9-figure ballplayer to take part in something that's highly competitive (but that doesn't really "count") right before the new season starts.