MLB Season 2024

[monkeyman576]

1981 was a split season I think

[monkeyman576]

Originally Posted by kq76

I doubt the pitch clock contributes much, if any, to injuries, but even if doesn't, I didn't see the need to lower the pitch clock from 20 to 18 with men on. That's such a small change that, even if there's just the suspicion that it might contribute to injuries, then I don't think you should make it worse by lowering it. We're at an acceptable spot when it comes to game lengths now, let's work on injuries.

I had almost given up hope that they'll somehow at some point tie the DH to the SP, but I do still think it's a great way to bring back the importance of not only SPs, but also pinch hitters. Losing the novelty of seeing a pitcher have the odd productive PA in favour of better PAs overall was something I begrudgingly thought was for the better of the game, but they didn't need to get rid off all the better aspects of the NL game, they could have at least tied the DH to the SP. And maybe the more people like Scherzer and Verlander talk about it, maybe one day they will do it.

I do wonder if a part of why Snell didn't get the contract many were expecting he'd get was due at least in part to how few innings he pitches (I know, he pitched 180 last year and that's great for him, but it's also way more than he usually gives you). If teams get to the point where they're just not going to pay top dollar for a SP who doesn't pitch that much, you'd think they'd also put a premium on developing their own pitchers to pitch more. I know I heard Alex Anthopoulos say a few years ago that he now puts more value on hitters who play more than those who don't. Surely the same must apply to pitchers too. It can't just be us fans who see the obvious, surely some of mngt must see it too.

I think teams are shying away from longer contracts in general.

[Cobra Mgr]

Ahhhhhh......the beauty of Angel Hernandez.................

Seriously, how can you manage to be wrong in multiple ways on one play?

[Cobra Mgr]

Yeah. Robo umps would be so much worse than this.

[monkeyman576]

Maybe we should get robo managers.

[Le Grande Orange]

Go all the way — robot leagues! (Bender would approve.)

[Westheim]

(tries to find the box on his bingo card where the Pirates tie for the best record in the league at the start of week 3)

[Cobra Mgr]

Switching sides after every pitch.

Yay or nay?

[Syd Thrift]

Nay because it’s stupid. You switch hit because you can see breaking pitches that break towards you more easily than ones that break away from you. Unless you’re convinced that the pitcher is throwing a screwball or a circle change every other pitch before the pitch is called, what possible advantage does this give you outside of being annoying?

[Cobra Mgr]

Originally Posted by Syd Thrift

Nay because it’s stupid. You switch hit because you can see breaking pitches that break towards you more easily than ones that break away from you. Unless you’re convinced that the pitcher is throwing a screwball or a circle change every other pitch before the pitch is called, what possible advantage does this give you outside of being annoying?

That's what I say. It looked like he was trying to be a troll. Maybe it disrupted the pitcher's concentration.

[kq76]

Originally Posted by Cobra Mgr

Switching sides after every pitch.

Yay or nay?

Wow. He sure does have a lot of energy.

Well, MLB would probably outlaw it based on pace of play issues, even if they're only just perceived, but that guy doesn't even look like he's trying to hit. He's just trying to throw off the pitcher to either get a walk or get hit, which he successfully does in that clip.

Nay for me. I'm no pitcher so I don't know if it's really that distracting or not, but I would think that it's dangerous. I'm not a fan of throwing at hitters, but if he got seriously hurt by getting hit by a pitch I'd have to think he was at least partially culpable in it.

[Le Grande Orange]

Switch hitter . . . now let's see a switch pitcher!

[Cobra Mgr]

Originally Posted by Le Grande Orange

Switch hitter . . . now let's see a switch pitcher!

There was one in the minors. Once, he came in to pitch righty, so the batter switch to the left. Then the pitcher went to throw left & the batter went to the right. Back & forth they kept going. I think they ruled one of them would have to declare which side they would be for the at bat & then the other would counter.

[Syd Thrift]

One of the Greg Harrises did this in the major leagues as well. IIRC he even had a special 6 finger glove made. I believe he also switched sides vs a switch hitter during an at bat and in order to stop the league from having a stack overflow error they legislated that away, saying that the pitcher has to choose a hand and use only it to throw for one batter.

[Cobra Mgr]

Betts strike zone.

[kq76]

For anyone interested in pitcher injuries, I think this interview with UCL surgeon Keith Meister is pretty interesting. For example, I had no idea that lateral pitch movement played such a big part in injuries. Of course velocity does too, but horizontal movement is bad too. He also points out that with less sticky stuff the pitchers have to grip the ball even harder which puts extra pressure on the weak points. It sounds like there are a lot of factors that go into the problem and there's no real easy fix because of course kids are going to want to get the big leagues as fast as possible when the better route is probably to slowly work your way into the bigs. I wonder if we need to outlaw certain pitches and speeds until certain ages like, IINM, football outlaws hitting until a certain age.

[Syd Thrift]

Yeah, spin rate has been the new hotness since around 2018ish and it’s much easier to point to that than the freaking pitch clock. Again, to invoke Verlander, I don’t know how you turn back that clock. Every pitcher is incentivized to grip hard and throw spinnier and spinnier breaking pitches. Even if you say “hey stop that”, if you keep signing guys based on how effective their pitches are, they’re going to keep on gripping the ball hard and blowing out arms. The data, such that we have it, is clear: the more RPM, the more swings and misses, and the more swings and misses, the better the pitcher.

The same goes for velocity. In some ways, the emphasis on not allowing guys to see the order for a 3rd time keeps the number of pitches lower, although the fact that they aren’t pitching as much encourages players to throw as hard as they can on every pitch they make. If I had a way to rewind that, believe me I would.

[Cobra Mgr]

So Peacock is ending their deal w/MLB after this season for Sunday AM games. Peacock wanted to renew for less @$. Which isn't surprising to me since I didn't know they had such a deal in the first place.

Was there any advertising for this?

[Pelican]

Can we at least agree that the the decades-long experiment with limiting pitch counts has [1] not reduced pitcher injuries at any level; [2] left pitchers, particularly SP, vulnerable to stress-related injuries when they finally have to throw 100 pitches in a game; and [3] actually caused more and worse serious injuries?

Based on the discussion immediately above, perhaps a better choice would be to limit how much spin younger pitchers try to apply, with the twisting motions that strain young (and old) arms. But, good luck on that, when it makes those pitchers less effective.

[Cobra Mgr]

How they ball in Finland