San Diego acquiring Snell, Darvish, and sign Ha-Seong Kim from Korea all in a week. Guess they are going all in on 2021.
Huh, this seems interesting.
I wonder how he gets around the double-edged sword of “games too long / we want more scoring”?
I think raising the seams of the ball is a good start. More curve, more ground balls. I once sat next to a minor-league catcher on a plane flight. He showed me two baseballs: a current one and a 5-year-old one. Very different, and this was 17 years ago.
“The executives, like me, who have spent a lot of time using analytics and other measures to try to optimize individual and team performance have unwittingly had a negative impact on the aesthetic value of the game and the entertainment value of the game in some respects,” Epstein said when he resigned.
That’s a load of crap. While, sure, having only a few people know the values of sac bunts and stealing bases (and thus use them too much) might have made a “more exciting” game (because of throwing errors), teams that overvalued them tended to lose more (though mainly because they didn’t have the personnel to hit more home runs). But now everyone knows, so fewer sac bunts and fewer stolen bases.
Probably should force the fences back 20 feet everywhere, and increase available foul territory space for foul pop-outs.
Two strikes is an out, three balls is a walk. That could shorten the game or increase scoring, depending on the pitcher.
How about: a limit on the number of foul balls after two strikes? I’ve played in softball games with that rule, due mainly to keeping on schedule and for players getting their money’s worth.
Well, Joe Torre is working for MLB, so we need some anti-Yankee/Dodgers baseball people in their office to balance it out, I guess. Wanna be radical? Get Bobby Valentine in there. Just kidding!
Want more entertainment? How about getting rid of reviewable instant replays? I thought arguments with umpires (and players) were awesome to watch! I really miss all that stuff (except for the spitting, so maybe mandate mask wearing).
I might be out of touch with fans who “want to see more offense.” I love pitchers’ duels. Remember that nail-biter of a duel between Pettitte and Smoltz? Ballparks that used to be “pitcher-friendly” are no longer. So yeah, let’s move the fences back 20 feet (maybe 40 in Colorado). An upper-decker is too commonplace at lots of ballparks. Starting pitchers need to throw their arms out (or use sticky substances that don’t seize up in the cold) just to make it to the 6th inning, even after following an opener.
I don’t mind unlimited foul balls with 2 strikes, that’s part of the game. Baseballs are harder to make contact with than softballs (heh, either are hard for me). But yeah, increase the foul territory space – that works for me.
The “fans” who want more offense are the casual fans who stop watching “boring” games. Their eyes are important to the money people (not the baseball people).
Increasing foul space is key, but to do so would require moving the fences. And after that, move the fences back even more. Since the owners will not agree to it, as it will cost money and decrease attendance revenues, they’ll need to agree to do it within the next ten years or so. So, ten years.
Here’s a few more – let’s get back to baseball purity instead of gimmicks:
- Unwind the new extra inning rules (that reminds me too much of the NHL shootout, but at least that happens after OT in non-playoff games).
- Unwind the DH in the NL. Doesn’t an “automatic” out or sacrifice make the game go faster? If you can’t play in the field, you shouldn’t be playing baseball. If you can pitch half as well as Cy Young, I don’t care if you can’t bat in the 9-person batting order.
- Use a point system with W-D-L instead of W-L. Wins are 3 points, Draws are 1 each, Losses are 0. Keep original extra innings for playoffs. Game can end in a tie at the end of, say, 10 innings.
- Heck, unwind the DH in the AL as well (give them 10 years). Not always an automatic out (maybe 90% of the time), encourages pitchers to practice batting, and it keeps pitchers honest with their too-high-and-inside pitches.
Trevor Bauer getting paid. $40M in 2021 and $45M in 2022. Damn.
I don’t get it. I guess the Dodgers really needed him.
Maybe the luxury tax isn’t punitive enough.
He’s from the area (Santa Clarita, north of city of Los Angeles but still in the County). That might have tipped to the Dodgers favor.
not heart broken the Mets missed out, not at that price
This is nice:
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Wonder what he’d get paid for pitching with both eyes open 
Play ball! Unless you are Boston-Baltimore then PPD
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Francisco Lindor gets paid.
But Mets-Nats postponed due to Nats Covid protocols
Jays-Yankees should be a good opener as both teams should make playoffs. Great pitching matchup today.
Watching LA-COL, since I switched to spectrum (exclusive provider).
Need to find a faster way of watching.
not sure I understand the phrase
Live takes too long (was watching live today at someone else’s house – outdoors). Also, the talking heads drone on and on about nothing. Orel’s passable, but barely.
Recording (yes, I’m always doing that) and jumping isn’t easy either. There is no standard rhythm for skipping, as with hockey or American-style football.
So, I’m ff’ing between pitches, 30-second skip between batters. Still about 2 hours.
Still, saw a HR turned into a single, and an ITP HR.
Wondering when Ohtani is traded to the National League, assuming the National League doesn’t ruin baseball permanently.
Bravo to A’s and Angel fans giving the Astros the business the past few games.
Dusty Baker, as usual, thinks the Astros “have paid enough” and, what-about-you-you’re-not-perfect.
“You can’t carry that scarlet letter around all your life,” Baker said. “We’ve paid the price. How many times can you say you’re sorry? That’s all you can do. All you can do is go on with your life. There aren’t many saints walking around on this Earth, and if there are I don’t recognize them.”
Oh, yes, you can. While you didn’t get a ring, those players still have theirs. No price was paid by them, none at all. So get off that high horse.