MLB Season 2024

[Cobra Mgr]

Has anyone ever clinched a playoff berth w/a triple play before?

[Cobra Mgr]

Eff the Pirates. This is low.

[kq76]

Originally Posted by Cobra Mgr

Eff the Pirates. This is low.

I'm of two minds on that. First, yeah, it doesn't make the Pirates look good. But two, if you sign a contract like that then you're just asking to be cut before you hit one of those milestones aren't you, especially when you sign with a known penny-pinching team like that? He also has a negative WAR so can he really complain? It's not like he was on a minimum contract either.

And I like Rowdy Tellez. He's an absolute great interview, which is so rare for players. He's one of the very few players that I'll actually listen to an interview with as I know it's very likely he'll make me laugh or think. And I have no doubt that he's probably a great clubhouse guy too. I hope he has a long and prosperous career still in the majors ahead of him.

But with the circumstances as they are, I'm just not all that bothered by it.

[Cobra Mgr]

Originally Posted by kq76

I'm of two minds on that. First, yeah, it doesn't make the Pirates look good. But two, if you sign a contract like that then you're just asking to be cut before you hit one of those milestones aren't you, especially when you sign with a known penny-pinching team like that? He also has a negative WAR so can he really complain? It's not like he was on a minimum contract either.

And I like Rowdy Tellez. He's an absolute great interview, which is so rare for players. He's one of the very few players that I'll actually listen to an interview with as I know it's very likely he'll make me laugh or think. And I have no doubt that he's probably a great clubhouse guy too. I hope he has a long and prosperous career still in the majors ahead of him.

But with the circumstances as they are, I'm just not all that bothered by it.

Originally Posted by 1 Corinthians 6:12

. . .All things are lawful for me, but not all things are advantageous. . . .

Just because I can do something doesn't mean I should. The Firates have the right, but my opinion is they suck for doing it.

[Westheim]

I have totally done that in OOTP and I would do it again!

[kq76]

Originally Posted by Cobra Mgr

Has anyone ever clinched a playoff berth w/a triple play before?

That was a pretty heads-up play there and it's not the only time I've been impressed with him while he's been in San Diego. I used to think he was a headcase, but I don't think that anymore. He's not having the best season of his career, but it's still a good one. He's pretty clearly their leader from what I've seen.

I also didn't think the following until this season, but I think the Padres have a real chance at winning the World Series now. The maybe rookie of the year, Merrill, has been a great spark. And while Arraez's stats might not jump out at anyone (besides maybe his BA), I think having someone so good at getting contact can have a real positive effect on the hitting approaches of others. Meanwhile, the often dismissed Profar has probably been their best offensive player, having a career season after signing pretty late in the offseason even. And then on the pitching side, Cease and King have also been great additions. I might still not be a Preller fan, but I've got to hand it to him, he's finally found the right mix. Who'd have thought it. I certainly didn't. It's just too bad Seidler isn't still here to see it. I'm happy for Padres fans.

[Le Grande Orange]

Two wins in a row for the White Sox, bringing its record to 38-120. With four games left to play:

4-0 to finish 42-120
3-1 to finish 41-121
2-2 to finish 40-122
1-3 to finish 39-123
0-4 to finish 38-124

[dsvitak]

Pirates gave Rowdy Tellez 3.2 million this year, despite hitting just .215 last year.

Tellez hardly got treated unfairly by them. He got that for a .299 on base percentage, coupled with a MINUS 0.8 WAR. I don't see Tellez volunteering to give back any of the money he didn't earn. A contract is a contract, and so is the provision that the performance clauses were at the sole discretion of the Pirates.

If they could have cut him earlier and not had to pay him, I am sure they would. Any average minor league hitter could have done better than this 270 pound slob.

[Cobra Mgr]

Get this out of the game.

[Le Grande Orange]

Originally Posted by Cobra Mgr

Get this out of the game.

Blame the umpires for letting the catcher fool them.

[Le Grande Orange]

White Sox win their third in a row, and are now 39-120. One more to tie the win total of the '62 Mets.

[Cobra Mgr]

Originally Posted by Le Grande Orange

Blame the umpires for letting the catcher fool them.

I do.

Solution?

Robo umps.

But I still hate the catchers taking advantage of it. It is no different than flopping in basketball.

[kq76]

Originally Posted by Cobra Mgr

But I still hate the catchers taking advantage of it. It is no different than flopping in basketball.

I see the connection you're making, but it just doesn't hit the same with me. I'm not entirely sure why. Maybe it's just that feigning injury is much more of an unsportsmanlike thing to do compared to trying to influence a call. Like is feigning an injury more of trying to provoke a call that wouldn't have ever happened on its own whereas a bad pitch very well might have been called a strike on its own? Maybe it's the difference in subtlety? Like if you were a referee/umpire in both situations don't you think a flop would be far more obvious than a well-framed pitch? When I watch those camera angles behind the catcher I have no idea how umps are getting most of their calls correct, they just happen too fast and the strike zone is just too amorphous of a shape to tell whether a ball, probably with movement, going close to 100mph, actually hit it or not. Whereas as long as I have eyes on it happening, I'm pretty sure I could tell when someone is flopping on the court.

I definitely want the challenge system, but I don't want a robo ump. I really like that a skilled catcher can influence more calls than a less skilled catcher can. True robo umps would take too much out of the game. Oftentimes it's good to have something to argue about anyway. And I'd much rather see complaints about a human ump than a robot that was calibrated in favour of the opposing team. All we're really missing is a challenge system for those especially egregious calls so let's just bring that in.

[Westheim]

Little side rabble from me.

I think I got my money's worth out of MLB TV this year (again). For the first time I noted down all the games I watched, and today's Reds-Cubs game is #237 for the year. Where else can you get two to three hours of fun for 60 cents these days?

With rigorous day-after watching of Mets night games whenever possible (and occasionally overstaying my bedtime otherwise ) I've managed to watch 107 out of 157 Mets games so far.

Not too bad for being six time zones east of the nearest MLB ballpark, I claim.

[Cobra Mgr]

Originally Posted by kq76

I see the connection you're making, but it just doesn't hit the same with me. I'm not entirely sure why. Maybe it's just that feigning injury is much more of an unsportsmanlike thing to do compared to trying to influence a call. Like is feigning an injury more of trying to provoke a call that wouldn't have ever happened on its own whereas a bad pitch very well might have been called a strike on its own? Maybe it's the difference in subtlety? Like if you were a referee/umpire in both situations don't you think a flop would be far more obvious than a well-framed pitch? When I watch those camera angles behind the catcher I have no idea how umps are getting most of their calls correct, they just happen too fast and the strike zone is just too amorphous of a shape to tell whether a ball, probably with movement, going close to 100mph, actually hit it or not. Whereas as long as I have eyes on it happening, I'm pretty sure I could tell when someone is flopping on the court.

I definitely want the challenge system, but I don't want a robo ump. I really like that a skilled catcher can influence more calls than a less skilled catcher can. True robo umps would take too much out of the game. Oftentimes it's good to have something to argue about anyway. And I'd much rather see complaints about a human ump than a robot that was calibrated in favour of the opposing team. All we're really missing is a challenge system for those especially egregious calls so let's just bring that in.

I respect everyone's right to have an opinion. But I've never subscribed, believed, or accepted the argument that somehow anything in life is better when it is sometimes wrong.

[kq76]

Originally Posted by Cobra Mgr

I respect everyone's right to have an opinion. But I've never subscribed, believed, or accepted the argument that somehow anything in life is better when it is sometimes wrong.

You sure you feel that way? You sure do post a lot of news stories, many of them where someone's done something badly. I'm glad you do, some of them are interesting, but it sure seems like you like discussions, like I do, and if there's no controversy there's usually not much reason for a discussion.

It's like the reason some people gave why MLB didn't force the DH onto the NL for the longest time. A lot of people, especially those who disliked the NL game, thought MLB liked the controversy and that's why they weren't changing it. And I don't know if it really did play a factor, but if it did, I think it was a valid one.

Maybe think of it this way: if everything is right in life, how much would you really appreciate things? Like say every time you get pizza it's great, wouldn't that then lead you to appreciate it less? I bring that up because the place where we used to get pizza from, for like over a decade, changed ownership a while back. And while it might not have been the absolute best pizza in the world before the change, it was consistently very good. Then once new ownership took over it wasn't nearly as good (we tried it 3 or 4 times) and so we tried a bunch of different places and the vast majority have also been nowhere near as good which made me realize the old place was even better than I gave it credit for. I took it for granted. The same could be said about a lot of things, even people. The bad in life makes the good even better.

[Le Grande Orange]

White Sox lose their 121st game. After 62 years the 1962 Mets are finally off the hook.