Brownie19

I disagree on the hit and the penalty issued says as much. If the league doesn't suspend players for those types of hits, then expect to continue seeing goons like Reaves f*** you up after that. Isn't this what hockey people want? They want the players to police the game? Or did this break some unwritten code that suggests you can't attach/maul someone after a whistle, but you can bust their face in with your fists. People are mauled after whistled all the time (and way too much in the playoffs). If Graves doesn't fall, or doesn't get hurt there, there's no suspension. Of course Reaves is a goon. Hockey loves goons - the rules and culture are designed to have goons.

f*** - Graves smoked the Vegas player high way after the puck was gone. If the NHL doesn't want Reaves or other players 'policing the game themselves' then throw Graves out of the game after he does ******** like that. I think Graves got lucky that Reaves didn't beat the piss out of him. I also think all that stuff is unnecessary, but the NHL doesn't seem to think so, so this is going to happen. It's interesting that Reaves gets a match penalty for twisting up Graves (looks pretty innocent, but he got hurt on it) - but if he broke his eye socket while fist f***ing him - it would have just been applauded and cheered without consequence.

That's the element we certainly don't know. Is the FO actively working with Charlie to improve his in-game decisions? Do they think he's improving and showing a willingness to change? I certainly hope there are several areas of managing that Charlie (or any manager) is actively working on to improve at all times.

.130 BABIP. BB% and K% are good. He's going to be just fine IMO.

Nice win tonight. Bat stay hot.

apparently he was on the local bus that got stuck in traffic? who's he think he is - Matt Bonner?

I mean I think Craig's reaction made everyone confused, but even the pitcher and 2nd basemen ended up napping. If either realized what was happening and covered 1st, the catcher just throws it to them to get Baez and the run doesn't count. We definitely should s*** on Craig a lot, but almost everyone on Pittsburgh had a brain fart there. Why was the catcher even covering home...he should have just had his hands up telling Craig to just tag Baez (or go back to 1st base).

Nice to see Machado continuing his good one year, s*** the next pattern.

Aaron Hicks is done for the year.

I thought as soon as you go backwards on a force play, you are out. I could be wrong on that, or perhaps running to 1st isn't considered a force play? The 1st baseman is very stupid. Take 2 steps back and touch first and none of that happens and then even if he's stupid enough to chase Baez backwards - throw it to the catcher sooner.

I find it interesting that most seem to favor Ray over Matz on this board. I believe I said that if Ray could ever get his BB/9 below 2.5 that he's be a CY Young candidate.....well he's done that and while the current results have been good, there are underlying issues (BABIP allowed is low, LOB% very high - although the HR/FB should also come down). He only has 0.1 WAR so far, whereas Matz is at 0.8. I mean we have to be super happy with both so far this year and I could see us wanting to keep both to be honest.

I was looking at Whiff% being less than the 50 percentile. I believe that means that when he swings, he misses a lot. You are correct about the chase rate.

How many PA's does it take for K% to stabilize?

I think Glasnow's had issues with tipping pitches before. Perhaps he should look in the mirror before he flings s*** at others.

The "Outs Above Average" must be a league wide stat (and not positional). If it were positional, there's probably another bright red dot on that graph. I'm actually surprised he swings and misses so much.

I watched a pretty interesting clip on the MLB Network yesterday regarding offense in baseball (https://www.mlb.com/video/mlb-now-on-boosting-offense?t=mlb-network). Here are some stats illustrating how difficult it is to produce v. high velocity. They believe the solution is to 'blunt' velocity and one of there recommended solutions was to lower the strike zone. They explained the top of the strike zone is technical the mid point between the shoulders and the belt (not sure I even knew that). I think at one point he suggested we make it the belt, but then backtracked a bit and said to just lowering it a few inches. They then showed these stats on high fastballs. This would eliminate the high strike and allow hitters to lay off that pitch (those who can develop the eye to do so). They also talked about the shift and how it continues to get better. They provided the following summary to support that and discusses the merits of implementing restrictions on the shift. I thought it was actually a quality piece from MLB. Thought I'd share.

I think most acknowledge that ideally, Jansen isn't a starting catcher at the ML level anymore. The issue is our best catcher is hurt. I think Kirk was well on his way to taking the starting role before the injury. Reece and Jansen are both backup catchers.

Lefty winning is incredible. Great for the sport.

I think you guys are reading into post game comment ******** too much - and I don't like Montoyo. He makes a glass half full comment after losing their 6th straight game. Baseball is a series of up's and down's. It seems the best approach is not to ride that wave too much - remain even keeled. Can you imagine sitting there answering stupid f***ing questions from reporters? They are taught to just answer it with ******** responses - you're rarely going to get someone who says "there's no excuse, this team is playing like s*** right now. I have nobody left in my bullpen who can get an out because everyone has vaginitis". Personally - I don't give two f***s what Montoyo says to some reporter. It's all nonsense and a gigantic waste of time.

That lineup is stacked if Matt Chapman can return to his elite status.

HS catchers are typically very risky aren't they? It looks like Michael McGreevy would be the college SP available in our range? The reports seems strong with him.

Power hitting CF with great defense is pretty boner inducing... I love the draft, but never know enough about it to provide any valuable insight, but I think what Metafour is suggesting sounds correct. The Jays would have to be in LOVE with Fabian to make the sacrifices necessary to sign him.

Is Keston Hiura broken?

How many PA's does it take for K% to stabilize? Teo's down to 22% over 131 PA's