Brownie19

Good to see Casey Mize is alive. I also haven't seen Dennis Santana's name in a LONG time. Dude was hyped up when he was with the Dodgers.

IMO - drawing conclusions from 2 playoff games isn't a great idea.

I don't think so. I just googled it and apparently it used to be a diagnostic term to describe someone with an IQ under 30 (obviously they don't use that anymore). The definition is "a stupid person or someone of low intelligence". That said, it's just really sad that some people want to put other down by suggesting they're a mentally disabled person. There's nothing those people can do about it and using their misfortunes to suggest someone is "like them" is just wrong. I used to do it, but I don't now. It's awful. Don't do it. John hit the nail on the head though. It's actually not that difficult to make small adjustments to your vocabulary. There are better battles to pick in life. I'm done with this topic though - back to baseball.

100%. The issue is if Zach Littell uses a pitch mix that protects his arm - he isn't in the major leagues. He's floating around in AAA, riding the buses. I suspect Zach and TB know the risk of throwing 50% sliders and they are both happy to take that risk. Zach wants to be in the majors and TB wants effective innings. For your truly stud pitchers - sure, you could probably use a pitch mix that's easier on their arm, while sacrificing effectiveness. But for most of the MLB, they can't afford a 10% drop in efficiency, as it will push them out of the league in favor of the Zach Littell's of the world. I'm not 100% on this, but I also think the data on which pitches are "hardest" on your arm is up for debate. I thought I read something that suggested a fastball is just as damaging as a curveball recently.

Yep - I like that one also. Wish we had a spot available for him at that price.

I've seen that suggestion. I just think hitters are going to feast on the starters unless there are other changes. I mean perhaps pitchers will be able to turn their focus to control and changing speeds enough to survive. I wonder if mastering that is just tangibly harder than chasing velocity, which is why you rarely see pitchers doing it successfully.

+ moron and idiot. Those are the 3 words I use now instead of ones that were previous common place, yet no longer acceptable (for reasons I now appreciate and accept). I couldn't imagine being so self centered that I'd refuse to make minor changes in my vocabulary to avoid offending someone else - especially when that person has a mental or physical disability.

I was thinking about this the other day. I think it's a fascinating discussion. There is no doubt in my mind that pitchers are being developed to throw as hard as they can - all the time. This has significantly increased the number of effective pitchers at the ML level. Bullpens are full of guys throwing legit gas/sliders these days. This is why most starting pitchers aren't facing lineups a 3rd time through and/or pitching deep into games. The options in the pen are simply 'better'. This wasn't true 15-20 years ago. Back then, outside of 1 or 2 arms in the pen, even you're #3 and #4 starter, facing a lineup a 3rd or 4th time was better than the options in the pen. Of course the downside is that to throw this hard, all the time is a harder on the body and pitchers blow up more often now. But then again, there are so many more options to choose from these days, so when they blow up, you just move onto the next arm. It 100% makes sense that teams aren't investing a ton of money on pitchers these days. That said, how did we get to this point? Obviously, there are always a ton of pitchers who are fringe ML players. They want to have a career and make some money, so they are always pushing to find a way to get a shot in the majors. As these labs started producing all these robot relief pitchers who all throw 95+ with a slider, other pitchers had to follow suit and jump on board. I also think that hitting just keeps getting better and better too - which is what's forcing pitchers to have to continue chasing velocity and spin to survive. I think the numbers suggest that velocity remains one of the biggest factors in results and you see that now as there's very few relief pitchers who can survive throwing 90-92 MPH anymore. I think if you saw pitchers go back to throwing at 90%, you'd see scoring skyrocket. Batters are too good now - they will tee off on that. I don't think we'll see many guys like Jamie Moyer ever pitch in the majors again. It kind of feels like a chicken and egg thing. Did batters get so good they forced pitching to adjust to throw harder? or did pitchers realize that throwing harder was their key to pitching in the majors and making millions and the batters have simply adjusted? Either way - I don't see an avenue to having a lot of SPing throwing 7+ innings again while throwing at 90% and "pitching" more. I think you might need to increase the width of the plate or something drastic to see that be possible - unless we want high scoring games and a 'good' ERA to be in the 4's. I'd love to hear other thoughts on this.

What a f***ing sicko.

Nope. Initials are SS. I think he's been a cop in Toronto for a very long time now. I just started coaching with him last year.

Bingo. How's the Yanks rotation looking when Cole is dead and Rodon is still hot garbage like last year? Does it look like the Jays without Gausman and Manoah?

Hard not to root for Clement. I think I mentioned this last year, but a buddy of mine is a cop in TO and he seems to party/hang with a lot of the Blue Jays. He said Clement likes to party and is a great guy.

Hold the line Chicago! We're all supporting you. Make the Yanks PAYYYYYYY - Jones and Jasson Domínguez!

Let's take Miguel Vargas

Maybe LA needs to trade for Espinal...

Where you are located? We've done: - Pittsburgh/Cincy/Cleveland (ball game and round in each City) - Washington/Philly/Baltimore (ball game and round in each City) - PEI - Tree Top Resorts (Gaylord Michigan) - Royal Ashburn (Ontario) - Various courses in Muskoka (Ontario) - Seguin Valley G&CC (Ontario) We starting to branch out and want to travel a bit more while we're still young and able. On our list is: - Cabot Cliffs/Trails (Nova Scotia) - LV / St. George - Scottsdale (AZ) - St. Andrews / Carnoustie (Scotland) - thinking of doing this for our 50th birthday (still a few years away!) Love hearing ideas and experiences from others!

My golf buddies and I looked into a LV / St. George trip this year, but decided to head to Lake Placid instead. It's definitely on our bucket list. Glad to hear you enjoyed it! Any tips would be appreciated.

FA season is OPEN! Cousins to ATL Jacobs to GB (Aaron Jones cut) - 4 yrs / $48M Barkley to PHI Swift to CHI Wilkins to Raiders Mayfield back with TB Gabe Davis to JAC Pollard to TEN Russ Wilson to PIT Xavier Mckinney to GB (4 yrs / $68M) Lots of other defensive and OL signings that nobody really cares about.

He's at camp. There was a discussion on his "stuff" this spring already. Someone thought he may have added a cut fastball, while someone else thought maybe it was just a poorly thrown slider. Riveting stuff.

100%

This is exactly the scenario that Boras/Snell were hoping for.

How incredible would it be to see Votto have a dead cat bounce season and a real contributor, helping to lead the Jays to the World Series? .260/.360/.500 25 HRs, 130 wRC+ I know the probability of that happening is super low, but you have to be romantic about baseball. That would be magical to watch.

Zimmer was also coming off a 89 wRC+ season and had a top prospect pedigree. But the key was we only had Springer to play CF that year...

If Betts can play even average defensively at SS, he moves to a whole new level for me. A legend of the game. Still so baffling that the Red Sox would ever let him go.

LA mia moving Mookie Betts to SS and Lux to 2nd base. That's insane.