Around Baseball 2023

[Jonn]

Cool story that a journey man thats getting his shot.

[connorp]

How does the pay work? Like he gets gets the prorated league min for every game he’s on the roster?

[Stangstag]

How does the pay work? Like he gets gets the prorated league min for every game he’s on the roster?

 

Yes. I believe he also qualifies for partial pension if he can stay rostered for 43 days

[Jimcanuck]

Their pitching staff has -2.7 fWAR with an 8.08 ERA. It’s remarkable that that they’ve assembled something so bad.

 

That team would finish out of the playoffs in AAA.

[Brownie19]

Perhaps posted already, but Shane McClanahan had 32 whiffs on 88 pitches yesterday. First pitcher in the statcast era to have 30+ whiffs in <100 pitches.

[Solaxys]

Os won, another walkoff, 6 in a row.

 

Pirates 7 in a row.

[Stangstag]

Rays win again

[bronson44]

This division is ridiculous

[connorp]

One thing you need to consider in fantasy when evaluating players is if they play for the White Sox

It’s where future young starts go to die apparently

[BigCecil]

Rays win again

 

Banking early W's like the Yanks did last season to ride out some inevitable regression. They are unconscious right now.

 

We have to keep pace as much as possible and hope we can get on major run.

[Stangstag]

Banking early W's like the Yanks did last season to ride out some inevitable regression. They are unconscious right now.

 

We have to keep pace as much as possible and hope we can get on major run.

 

This is the highest wRC+ a team has had through the month of april… Ever. I went and looked at the past 50+ years on fangraphs and the best team wRC+ through April was around 130ish, while the Rays have like 150ish right now.

 

This is historic. And the Rays don’t really have an amazing lineup outside a few guys like Wander and Arozerena… im pretty convinced they’re cheating in some way.

 

And yeah banking this many early wins pretty much guarantees they’ll win the division unless they have an epic collapse, which is unlikely to happen with their pitching being so solid.

[Stangstag]

Disclaimer: I did these stat checks on my phone but im planning to do a deeper dive on my desktop once I get home. What the Rays are doing is ridiculous

[Spanky__99]

f*** the Rays!

[BigCecil]

Chicken Strip going vs the Mets. Let’s go Strip!

[jaysblue]

Gotta start betting the Rays, so they lose! I'll take one for the team haha.

[jaysblue]

Banking early W's like the Yanks did last season to ride out some inevitable regression. They are unconscious right now.

 

We have to keep pace as much as possible and hope we can get on major run.

 

Yeah it's a shame this is happening the second season in a row in the AL East. Not much you can do.

 

Jays have to keep pace and hope they can go on a major run at some point in May or June. Taking 2 of 3 against the Yankees was huge. Hope they could sweep the White Sox at home this week, or at least win 2 of 3.

 

There are no more excuses that "it's still early" if the Jays lose a winnable game in April or May. When you have a team like the Rays banking wins early, you have to keep within striking distance.

[G-Snarls]

Gotta start betting the Rays, so they lose! I'll take one for the team haha.

 

Either helps the Jays or you make money so it's not bad for you eirher way

[Spanky__99]

Chicken Strip going vs the Mets. Let’s go Strip!

 

He didn't do anything to help his case, I wonder if they give him another chance.

[harvey16]

The AL "B"East is far and away the best division in baseball and it's not even close. Every team is a above .500 with a combined record of 71-39 (.645) and a run differential of +134. We are the only team in the division with a negative run differential (-4). Currently 4 of the 5 teams are on pace for 95+ wins. Could this be the beat division in MLB history? The next best division is the NL Central with a 59-51(.536) record and a +67 run differential.

[Spanky__99]

The AL "B"East is far and away the best division in baseball and it's not even close. Every team is a above .500 with a combined record of 71-39 (.645) and a run differential of +134. We are the only team in the division with a negative run differential (-4). Currently 4 of the 5 teams are on pace for 95+ wins. Could this be the beat division in MLB history? The next best division is the NL Central with a 59-51(.536) record and a +67 run differential.

 

Yeah, it's been pretty nuts early on.

[Grant77]

The AL "B"East is far and away the best division in baseball and it's not even close. Every team is a above .500 with a combined record of 71-39 (.645) and a run differential of +134. We are the only team in the division with a negative run differential (-4). Currently 4 of the 5 teams are on pace for 95+ wins. Could this be the beat division in MLB history? The next best division is the NL Central with a 59-51(.536) record and a +67 run differential.

 

In terms of wins, probably. In terms of talent, I'm not too sure. The new schedule has a lot to do with it and the division has been like this before.

[BTS]

I'm really struggling with Stuff+ as a metric. Luis Castillo has looked dominant, but his stuff grades out the same as Rich Hill and Zack Greinke. His stuff is a lot worse than Nestor Cortes', per Stuff+.

[MikeM3]

I'm really struggling with Stuff+ as a metric. Luis Castillo has looked dominant, but his stuff grades out the same as Rich Hill and Zack Greinke. His stuff is a lot worse than Nestor Cortes', per Stuff+.

 

It doesn't factor platoon situations. Castillo has 4sm and change vs LHB and sinker slider vs RHB so he's far superior if you look at it intuitively. Guys like Hill have a huge breaking sliders but are not that special against RHB.

 

It lacks a lot of context. Doesn't factor tunnels either or deception.

 

I bet Aaron Sanchez had sick stuff+ in his prime with that huge curve. But it doesn't pair with a sinker that's why a smart team like the Astros tried to switch his fastball to a 4sm. But stuff+ doesn't care about that as far as I know.

[Laika]

I'm really struggling with Stuff+ as a metric. Luis Castillo has looked dominant, but his stuff grades out the same as Rich Hill and Zack Greinke. His stuff is a lot worse than Nestor Cortes', per Stuff+.

 

Yeah it being on Fangraphs now is going to cause a lot of people to misuse it, I think

 

For any established pitcher you don't really care about it that much unless you are trying to analyze a change (new pitch, injury, etc.)

 

It also has many admitted flaws. It struggles with changeups, for one thing, and that has a particular relevance for Luis Castillo.

 

I think Castillo's fastball does not actually have a great "shape" and he is a guy who derives a decent amount of effectiveness from command, also.

[Laika]

Eno Sarris always says "if you follow Stuff+ too strongly you just end up with a bunch of relievers"

 

A bunch of the nuance to being an effective or good SP is just not captured by the model

 

It's meant more to replace or supplement scouting grades on pitches than anything. Not really meant to be a way to VALUE established pitchers.

[JaysAllMighty]

[Stangstag]

 

The problem is that Rosin is a legal substance, but the umpires can deem it illegal if your hands are “too sticky” which probably means different things for different umpires. They need an actual hardline point of acceptable vs too much. Also maybe don’t allow the use of alcohol? That should be easy enough to smell if a player has used it.

[Brownie19]

Help me understand this. He goes to the clubhouse, watches his hands, applies alcohol - all clean. It made it sound like he then applied the rosin again right away. Wouldn't you watch your hands again after using alcohol and dry them off and there'd be a period of time before you apply the rosin?

 

Is it correct that alcohol and rosin are stickier than water/sweat and rosin? I wonder if pitchers have been adding alcohol in the clubhouse right before they come out for an inning - not drying it off...

 

At the end of the day, if rosin is this sticky with sweat/alcohol, then surely that should be fine to satisfy claim that batters actually want pitchers to make sure they have a good grip.

[jaysblue]

Either helps the Jays or you make money so it's not bad for you eirher way

 

Yeah I'm going to try starting tonight haha.

[Jonn]

 

When the umpire actually has a great night.