Laika
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Everything posted by Laika
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In 2019 it was high spin FB plus a Marco Estrada changeup from the left side. Then in 2020 he got even more interesting because the velo ticked up and his breaking ball may have developed a bit.
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They just should not have brought Springer back. He should have sat out another week then gone to AAA for an actual rehab assignment. -
Yeah. I've never liked the perfect game definition. That was a passed ball to me. I'm considering it a PG Can't believe I wasn't able to land Means in the LoD
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John Means
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I wonder if Jose Abreu is even faster than Liam Hendriks.
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It has just been a volatile season. Lots of little disappointments and emotional victories so far. One day you are thinking, "Jesus, with Vlad and Bo playing like this, Springer coming back, the pen looking good, and guys like Ray and Matz turning a corner this team is looking very nice!" ... and then the next day Merryweather is hurt again, Kirk is out for two months, Springer is not actually healthy, Pearson has arm trouble again, Biggio has been exposed as the fraud Keith Law always knew he was, Gurriel looks like a replacement level player, Teoscar gets Covid, Ryu strains his ass, etc. Most teams are going through similar things. This is going to be a more volatile season than the typical 162 game slate because of weird Covid s*** and probably more injuries than normal. But we could see some good volatility too like aggressive prospect promotions. We've got Manoah, SWR, Moreno, Groshans, Martin, Otto Lopez, Joey Murray, Chavez Young all in AAA/AA. Any of them could debut this year in the right circumstance.
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nvm on the 1B side. Brandon Belt lives. being a Brandon Belt owner is very hard.
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They can already measure stress on the arm in a variety of ways. So this is already possible. The "problem" is that the majority of players are just ngmi if they don't throw as hard as possible. The safe velocity zone is the same as the "have a nice career overseas" zone. Velocity training can also be a way to make you more resilient as a pitcher and keep you healthier. If done right. I mean it's just strength, flexibility, proper mechanics, and repeating your mechanics, and throwing with your whole body. There is a reason that some of the historic SP flamethrowers have been very resilient and healthy. There are current models for this too, guys who increase their velocity (or maintain it as they age) and get better and stay healthier.
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You can find other visuals. They all look similar. It is true that at certain launch angles hitting the ball say, 70 mph rather than 85 mph can be way more effective. It's not luck, it's just based on the simple fact that there is a gap between infielders and outfielders. Now the visual differences between Panik and Espinal could be due to complete luck. But my hypothesis (unproven and I won't put money on this) is just that Espinal, for whatever reason, is just better at hitting balls that find the orange zone on the below graph a bit more often. Because he is worse at hitting. Panik is almost too good at hitting - he consistently hits balls in a suboptimal way. He's easy to defend.
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It's ironic but Espinal might be a better hitter than Panik right now specifically because he is worse at hitting. Panik's avg and max EV in his career are 86.2 and 108.1. Espinal's are 84.4 and 104.4. Similar average LA of 11.5 and 11.8. Because Espinal hits the ball more... lightly.... he is more likely to get the benefit of bloop singles. I'm talking about 70mph batted balls in the air. Anecdotally, Panik hits a lot of balls decently that are just dead on contact ~300 foot flyballs. One of worst things you can do as a hitter is to consistently hit balls like, 85mph in the air (at certain launch angles). https://miro.medium.com/max/1938/1*u8TcG4RxG62vwjo8AJQ6Sw.png
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Vancouver is the new Dunedin. They reshuffled! Buffalo AAA NH AA Vancouver high A Dunedin low A GCL Rookie DSL Foreign Rookie GONE = Lansing and Bluefield. Lansing is now an Oakland affiliate. I don't think anyone picked up Bluefield
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Panik is in a weird/frustrating place as a hitter, for me as a spectator. He seems to put the ball in play a lot on good trajectories, he just doesn't find enough grass or hit it hard enough to produce. I can see why the team has been attracted to him as a cheap bench player the last couple of years. A left-handed hitting infielder just fits the mostly RHB roster and his xwOBA has been higher than his wOBA, showing a bit of positive regression potential. But I think it's clear at this point that he's swinging a pool noodle and it's just not going to happen. His defense has also fallen to just average. If only Espinal was left handed... Internally for 2021 I don't see a Panik upgrade. Most everyone is right handed. I guess Breyvic Valera is a switch hitter and could do better? You know what, at this rate when everyone is healthy in 2022 CAVAN BIGGIO might actually be the one serving in Panik's role. Biggio would be so much better at being Joe Panik than Joe Panik.
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Seeking a bat. A big upgrade at 1B or 2B would be ideal. I would mainly dangle a good SP. Open to talking about anybody but I feel like Taillon, Kim, Alcantara, and Wheeler are the ones with strong value who I would be most inclined to trade. Could also trade prospect(s) and Christian Walker, Belt, or Dylan Moore in any deal. Moore has gone 19 HR, 29 SB in 531 career PA so there is a ton of upside there.
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No I think it means they are giving him a chance to catch.
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Zach Britton as a catcher.
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If he had the benefit of a normal minor league rehab assignment he would start by DHing, playing partial games, and he'd be held out of games with inclement weather , etc. They are basically just doing that in MLB games because the minors are still not active.
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It's going to be insane. There will be so many "breakouts".
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It's not that weird. He is basically doing a rehab assignment at the MLB level.
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Questionable pitching. But the offensive core is good and Sale is coming back at some point.
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Ian Anderson is pretty sick. If he has his stuff this one will be tough. He can get into walk trouble sometimes though so they will have to be patient
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AL East standings are weird. Red Sox playing free and easy with low expectations and 17 wins. Everyone else has 13 wins.
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Mexican food Here's my point, Rosie DiManno. Taking someone's name off the 500 level facade and not engaging with them anymore does NOT equal "erasing them from history". Robbie Alomar still existed. Everything still happened. The 92 and 93 teams can still have a reunion sanctioned by the organization without Alomar being invited.
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What point are you trying to make with this post? Be as specific as possible.
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Years long pattern of disingenuous lying, s*** disturbing, and purely negative board contributions. I'd stand by the permaban even if others disagreed. Do us a third party favour and weigh in on the merits of the petty logical fallacy s*** here Jim. You'll agree that this guy is a f***ing loser and completely wrong. He always is. At some point you have to squash the bug.
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There is not an ounce of truth here. Lie again and I will f***ing ban you permanently.
