At least there's one good team in the organization

by Travis G on Sep 12, 2008 9:38 PM EDT

Scranton won the Governor's Cup, destroying the Durham Bulls 20-2. Phil Hughes started and went just five, but struck out (a ridiculous) 12 batters. Only three outs were not strikeouts against him. Juan Miranda was the offensive hero, going 3-5 with a home run and six RBI. They will play either the Oklahoma Red Hawks or the Sacramento River Cats for the Triple-A title in a one game 'Bricktown Showdown' (Tuesday, 8 p.m., ESPN2).

Instant replay can't and shouldn't be stopped. Hopefully within five years, replay will be available for every out/safe call. And the natural conclusion would be to use a system like ESPN's 'K-Zone' or FOX's 'Pitch Tracker' to determine balls and strikes. They have zero bias with total and complete fairness. No more Greg Maddux getting a larger strike zone or David Ortiz getting the benefit of every close call; and any slowing down of games would be negligible at most.

YES says it's fine with Yankee announcers openly crticizing the team. Michael Kay gets ripped a lot for being a Yankee homer, but have you ever heard other announcers (Seattle and Chicago spring to mind)? They openly root for their team and against the opponents who, in Chicago's case, are even referred to as 'the bad guys'.

Jon Heyman thinks CC Sabathia may end up with the Angels (he does have an affinity for SoCal). What could be worse than our toughest opponent getting the best free agent pitcher (since Randy Johnson in 1998) in the prime of his career?

Carl Bialik takes an in-depth look at the age old question: is Arod clutch? To paraphrase: not at all this year and average for his career. Sounds about right.

Andy Pettitte will start the last game at Yankee Stadium. Not to be outdone is Bernie Williams, who will make his long awaited return to the Stadium (next Sunday, 9/21). No one else would be fitting. Those two Yankees spent 27 seasons with the Yankees, helping them win four World Series.

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MLB has this "K-zone" done better. It's called Pitch f/x. It's what you see on gameday. It measures velocity at 2 points, break, sink. It's really amazing to analyze pitcher, but should also be used to call balls and strikes. It's got a 2 inch margin

And you guys will do fine without signing CC. Personally, I expect you to sign either Sheets or Burnett, both of which are elite pitchers. Along with Tex.

Tools Whore

Sign Bonds!

by Tyler on Sep 13, 2008 2:46 AM EDT reply actions

yep

forgot about MLB’s Gameday, which is essentially a more detailed version of the other systems.

Burnett is not elite, he only dominates the Yanks, and Sheets is only elite when healthy. for short term deals, sure, it might be worth it. but Sabathia is not only elite AND healthy, but dominates everyone (outside of maybe Oakland).

by Travis G on Sep 13, 2008 12:39 PM EDT up reply actions

Jon Heyman is sometimes a good reporter

But he’s often so full of BS that it oozes out of his ears. I’d take anything he says with a grain of salt.

There won’t be any major changes with strike zones. There’s an average of at least 25-300 pitches thrown per game and I don’t see how MLB can manage to put in a system which puts every pitch under the microscope.

Five years from now, Joba Chamberlain will still get the benefit of he doubt on many close pitches just like any other pitcher with a reputation for throwing strikes.

I don’t see that part of the game changing all that much.

by anaconda on Sep 13, 2008 6:51 AM EDT reply actions

the 'new' strike zone

would probably have more high pitches called strikes, with less off-the-corner pitches.

why should Joba have to wait though? maybe the reason its so tough for rookies is not only do they have to adjust to better competition, but since they’re ‘newbies’, umps dont give them the benefit of any call until they’ve ‘earned their stripes’ which is total BS. why should a player’s experience or ability have ANY effect on whether a pitch/call goes for or against them?

if Maddux (i dont mean to pick on him, but he’s the king of living on the edges) is so great, why should he need an extra 2-3 inches? he’s a first ballot HOFer, shouldn’t he be able to throw quality strikes that actually cross the plate? same thing with hitters who the benefit of close calls.

by Travis G on Sep 13, 2008 12:54 PM EDT up reply actions

The Joba remark was just an example because I know he'll still be with the team

The same argument applies to any pitcher who develops the reputation of someone who throws strikes.

At the plate or on the mound, players do develop reputations and get the benefit of calls at times. I don’t think there’s any way to change that because that’s been a part of baseball for 100 years.

Besides, everyone knows that every major change in baseball has been to the benefit of the hitter over the last 40 years. It’s unlikely that the strike zone will now expand – even to the dimensions of the rule book – because the vast majority of fans prefer to see a lot offense instead of 2-1 or 1-0 games.

by anaconda on Sep 13, 2008 1:07 PM EDT up reply actions

the way to change that

is to take out the human prejudice that umpires inherently bring. i’m not even ripping them for it. it’s part of human nature to say ‘Well, this pitcher has 300 wins, he knows what’s a ball and what’s a strike,’ and vice versa for hitters.

yes, there would fewer strikes off the corners, but there’d also be more high strikes. anyway, i’m also in favor of raising the mound. it was lowered from 15" to 10" in 1969, why not raise it to an even foot? and while fans do seem to like hitting, they also like concise games.

by Travis G on Sep 13, 2008 11:16 PM EDT up reply actions

Re:

I don’t think there’s any realistic chance that those rules would be implemented. The strike zone has increasingly gotten smaller over the years – not larger – and I don’t expect that trend to reverse itself anytime soon given the decrease in offensive production the last couple of years, especially this season.

Much of that lack of production has to do with the banishment of “greenies” – which is an argument for a different day.

But the fact that the average game has 250-300 pitches thrown – it would be impossible to put every single pitch under the microscope and take the human element completely out of the action.

Granted, it’s not a perfect game and there are much bigger issues that face the game right now than pitchers or hitters getting the benefit of the doubt on close pitches.

by anaconda on Sep 14, 2008 8:12 AM EDT up reply actions