Random MLB News And Discussion 2013

[jjgott]

MLB Past and Future Payroll Interactive Graph Site: http://mrphilroth.com/mlbpayrolls/

 

Prepare to lose about an hour or two.

[torts]

blocked at work as "suspicious"

[jjgott]

blocked at work as "suspicious"

 

That's odd. Definitely not mind-blowing stuff, but its pretty neat to check out when you get a chance.

[TooLiveBrew]

Ok, so he's not a current big-league player. But he's a big league impersonator!

 

You're doing yourself a disservice if you don't check out Tim Dillard's recent interview with Sounds radio announcer/beat writer Jeff Hem. Well, it's a panel interview... kind of. As originally noted by the spectacular Mass Haas, Jeff caught up with Tim & the rest of the panel yesterday before game-time.

[craigharmann]

Ok, so he's not a current big-league player. But he's a big league impersonator!

 

You're doing yourself a disservice if you don't check out Tim Dillard's recent interview with Sounds radio announcer/beat writer Jeff Hem. Well, it's a panel interview... kind of. As originally noted by the spectacular Mass Haas, Jeff caught up with Tim & the rest of the panel yesterday before game-time.

 

Good Lord! If Hand and Halton sound halfway like Dillard makes them out to be, that's awesome. Dillard NEEDS to have a career in broadcast, standup, SOMETHING when he's done playing ball.

[trwi7]

Rene Lachemann is hilarious.

[jjgott]

http://i.minus.com/ibd7dgjN0UsxhZ.gif

[clancyphile]

I think the Brewers blew it with Dillard when they began this "is he a reliever" nonsense at some point. He was racking up VERY efficient numbers at Brevard County, including a LOT of CGs.

 

If they'd just kept him as a starter, I think he'd be a pretty serviceable option now.

[Baldkin]

Alphonso Soriano hit is 400th career homerun.

 

I'm not sure if I'm shocked that he has 400, or shocked that he didn't have 400 already.

[Patrick425]

The arbitration rules/eligibility requirements have always confused me somewhat, so I'm hoping someone can help me understand this. I was looking at Nate Shierholtz (and this all came up because of a potential fantasy league trade). I assumed he was going to be a FA after this year since this is his 7th year in the big leagues and he signed a 1 year contract as a FA with the Cubs before this season. I'm being told he's still arby eligible after this year. How is this possible? I thought after 6 years a player is a FA?

[torts]

yup, wont be a FA until 2015, final year of arbitration is the upcoming 2014 season.

 

he only has 4 years of ML service time is how he's still within his arb years. his 07/08 seasons were brief appearances (39, 19 games) so they didnt really affect his arb-clock (he was still a pre-arb player, receiving league min when on ML roster). 2009 was when he finally got his first full year of service time (including service time from 07 and 08), which accounted for the first of his 6 years of arbitration.

[trwi7]

Brandon Phillips isn't happy about a reporter pointing out his .310 OBP.

[RightFieldCoder]

yup, wont be a FA until 2015, final year of arbitration is the upcoming 2014 season.

 

he only has 4 years of ML service time is how he's still within his arb years. his 07/08 seasons were brief appearances (39, 19 games) so they didnt really affect his arb-clock (he was still a pre-arb player, receiving league min when on ML roster). 2009 was when he finally got his first full year of service time (including service time from 07 and 08), which accounted for the first of his 6 years of arbitration.

This is correct. Just to be exact, the rules are 172 calendar days on the 25 man roster equals 1 year.

[jerichoholicninja]

This is more of a vent than news but I'm real sick of Bill saying "how do you reward a hitter for taking that pitch?" every time a batter takes a close ball with 2 strikes. Well Bill, if it doesn't cross the plate, it's a ball. There's no "rewards" involved.

[trwi7]

That and Brian's constant use of the phrase "As a matter of fact."

[Eye Black]

Prince Fielder passed his father Cecil in career hits earlier this week, he is now at 1,318. He is going to have to wait until next season to catch him in career HR's.

[reillymcshane]

I happened to look at Mark Buehrle's career stats and have to give the guy some serious credit. He's always been a more under the radar type guy - not lots of strikeouts, no 20 win seasons, etc. But take a look at this:

 

• 
  12 straight seasons with more than 200 innings pitched. He's at 179 now, and with another 4 starts, he should get 200 again this year.
  12 years straight with 30 or more starts (he's at 28 starts this year, so he'll likely extend that streak)
  13 straight years of double digit wins
  185 career wins
  His career WHIP is 1.27. This year he's at 1.30
  His career ERA is 3.83. This year he's at 3.92
  48.1 fWAR for his career. 55.1 bWAR.
  

 

I have to give some serious credit to the guy. He goes out every year and just gets the job done. Nothing fancy, just a solid, workman-like guy.

[jerichoholicninja]

Mark belongs in the hall of very, very good. If he pitched in the NL and played for a team that won more he would probably be in consideration for the Hall of Fame.

[reillymcshane]

Couple of fun notes:

 

Casey McGehee is hitting .307 in Japan. He has 22 HR and a .913 OPS.

 

Also, Nyjer Morgan is hitting .305 in Japan. 11 dingers and an .836 OPS. Curiously, he only has 2 SBs.

 

Glad to see some old friends doing well.

[Patrick425]

So, the last couple of games we have gone to, my son and I have noticed that Carlos Gomez stands nowhere near the on deck "circle" when he is on deck. He stands closer to the area directly behind home plate. Below is a picture from last night's game. So, my question is A) is there any rule as to the area you have to stand in when you are on deck and B) Is anyone else surprised that the opposing team has not complained about this (with the idea that he is trying to gain some sort of unfair advantage by standing closer to the area directly behind the catcher - or that maybe he is being distracting to the opposing pitcher).

 

[trwi7]

I don't think there's a specific rule other than you have to have a player out on the field in the area of the on deck circle.

[jerichoholicninja]

I think it's a rule that's you're supposed to be in or around the on-deck circle. Think. In youth, amateur, and semi-pro leagues I've played and coached in I've had umpires and other teams complain about on-deck batters standing behind the fence behind homeplate. I'm sure LaRussa would complain about it.

 

I know that you do have to stay on your dugout's side of the field.

[Patrick425]

Hmm..I'm a little surprised at that (trwi's post). What if he decided he wanted to stand directly behind home plate or if for some reason he wanted to stand in the grass area right behind the hitter just outside the home plate area dirt? Seems like there would be some limits as to where he is allowed to warm up.

 

edit: I'm assuming that what he's doing is legal, otherwise I would guess that another team would have brought it to the attention of the umpire by now.

[RightFieldCoder]

There's also a rule that the coach's must stay in the coach's box.

 

It's one of the rules that:

both sides violate,

neither side complains that the other is violating it,

So umps don't bother enforcing the rule.

[jerichoholicninja]

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/06/sports/baseball/theres-rivera-and-theres-everyone-else.html?ref=sports&_r=0

 

Excellent article about the fallacy of the "closer" with some nice quotes from Dennis Eckersley who said "It's not as tough as you think."