2019 Misc MLB News

[DuWayne Steurer]

This was a really good article. It's about the broadcasts of baseball over time and with quotes and commentary from Mike Falkner of the Brewers, talking about their broadcasts, BA & Rock, and other stuff. Good read!

 

https://tht.fangraphs.com/brewers-tv-statistician-mike-falkner-and-the-evolution-of-baseball-broadcasts/

 

 

"What people do not want are ex-players taking the persona of grumpy old men on baseball broadcasts."

 

This is what Schroeder comes off as about 3 times per game.

[trwi7]

Sonny Gray and Wade Miley both sucking.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

Sonny Gray and Wade Miley both sucking.

 

Perhaps the Derek Johnson pixie dust isn't as magical anymore.

[trwi7]

Mariners take 3 of 4 from the Red Sox. Orioles take 2 of 3 from the Yankees. Just like everybody predicted.

[jjfanec]

Mariners take 3 of 4 from the Red Sox. Orioles take 2 of 3 from the Yankees. Just like everybody predicted.

 

Add in Rangers taking 2 of 3 vs Cubs.

 

On topic of the Cubs their rotation and bullpen has some really serious questions right now. Darvish and Hamels were bad and the bullpen was brutal the last two days and looks bad on paper

[wildcat83]

Story on yahoo that the Nationals offer to Harper contained deferred money through 2072.

[young guns]

That's gotta be April fools cause that's ridiculous.

[wildcat83]

CBS has it up too, unless it’s a multiple network April fools

 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/bryce-harper-says-he-was-ready-to-go-back-to-nationals-reportedly-got-offer-that-wouldve-paid-him-in-2072/amp/

[jjfanec]

Starters (Hendricks and Newcomb) for the Cubs and Braves combined to pitch only 8.1 ip giving up 23 total baserunners and yet only 2 er. That is pretty much 3 baserunners per inning. Hendricks had quite few unearned runs but that stat was crazy me

[sveumrules]

Willians Astudillo batting 667/636/1000 over his first 11 plate appearances to start the season, still no strikeouts or walks though he was hit by a pitch.

 

Over his first 108 MLB PAs he has a higher batting average (382 vs 366) & lower K% (2.8 vs 4.1) than Ty Cobb.

[trwi7]

[Oxy]

This was a really good article. It's about the broadcasts of baseball over time and with quotes and commentary from Mike Falkner of the Brewers, talking about their broadcasts, BA & Rock, and other stuff. Good read!

 

https://tht.fangraphs.com/brewers-tv-statistician-mike-falkner-and-the-evolution-of-baseball-broadcasts/

 

 

"What people do not want are ex-players taking the persona of grumpy old men on baseball broadcasts."

 

This is what Schroeder comes off as about 3 times per game.

 

That's only because "grumpy old men" aren't included (because they refuse to partake) in market research and thus aren't considered "people" by those sorts of people who make grand comments like the above quote.

 

Despite not partaking in those sorts of surveys/research, grumpy old men do watch baseball though.

[DuWayne Steurer]

 

 

"What people do not want are ex-players taking the persona of grumpy old men on baseball broadcasts."

 

This is what Schroeder comes off as about 3 times per game.

 

That's only because "grumpy old men" aren't included (because they refuse to partake) in market research and thus aren't considered "people" by those sorts of people who make grand comments like the above quote.

 

Despite not partaking in those sorts of surveys/research, grumpy old men do watch baseball though.

 

 

The problem with Schroeder is a lot of his "Back in my day" stories are pretty wrong. The other day he was talking about how NOWADAYS about 6 innings is all you can expect to get from a starter. Back when I played, pitchers pitched 200 - 250 -300 innings"

 

Right now pitchers in the NL average about 5.5 IP per start, and in 1987, it was about half an inning more. The game hasn't changed in some huge, fundamental way, but he wants to think it has, and in some terrible way because the players are weaker and not able to do the herculean feats that the players of his era were capable of.

 

So.... he comes off as a grumpy old man who doesn't understand how to even use the internet to look up some simple statistics.

[Oxy]

 

 

"What people do not want are ex-players taking the persona of grumpy old men on baseball broadcasts."

 

This is what Schroeder comes off as about 3 times per game.

 

That's only because "grumpy old men" aren't included (because they refuse to partake) in market research and thus aren't considered "people" by those sorts of people who make grand comments like the above quote.

 

Despite not partaking in those sorts of surveys/research, grumpy old men do watch baseball though.

 

 

The problem with Schroeder is a lot of his "Back in my day" stories are pretty wrong. The other day he was talking about how NOWADAYS about 6 innings is all you can expect to get from a starter. Back when I played, pitchers pitched 200 - 250 -300 innings"

 

Right now pitchers in the NL average about 5.5 IP per start, and in 1987, it was about half an inning more. The game hasn't changed in some huge, fundamental way, but he wants to think it has, and in some terrible way because the players are weaker and not able to do the herculean feats that the players of his era were capable of.

 

So.... he comes off as a grumpy old man who doesn't understand how to even use the internet to look up some simple statistics.

 

 

There ARE things you could point to that probably support that opinion, but I agree with Rock on that one (not that I care that much--it's a much smarter game today). Look at the number of complete games. Even in the 80s, good pitchers regularly threw complete games. It never happens now--even when a guy is throwing a no-hitter threw 7 innings since his pitch count was at 117. That is a way in which the game has changed--although it's not really "fundamental"-it's just a slight strategic change that looks at one game within a 162 game schedule and de-prioritizing certain romantic aspects of the game like a no-hitter.

[Oxy]

OH- here be my analytics:

 

http://www.baseball-almanac.com/pitching/picomg4.shtml

[Ennder]

In the early 80's you still saw a lot of pitchers in the 250-300 range. By the late 80s the game was already changing. It is mostly because back in the day a pitcher could take a lot of batters off because guys like Bill Schroeder made teams, where as in today's game he would probably have never made the majors.

[MoreTrife]

Chris Davis is really a crazy story. He's in year four of a seven year $161 million contact, 33 years old. Hit .168 last year and currently in a 0-46 streak going back to last year. 0-16 with 11 strikeouts this year. Mercilessly booed. How long can this go on!? It's not like he's going to turn it around at this point

[MVP2110]

Am I alone in liking Rock up in the booth?

[PeaveyFury]

I appreciate Bill's loyalty to the team and genuine love of Milwaukee and the fans, but he's just a typical aging former player who hasn't fully bought into analytics and modern baseball theory. Not really a slam on him, as he's probably better than most color guys out there, but I think we're all interested in this next generation of players and the insights they might bring to the game. But we could have far, far worse. We're also really spoiled with fantastic PBP guys in this state.

[xisxisxis]

Am I alone in liking Rock up in the booth?

 

Crickets? I don't think that's the case - Rock's fans are the silent minority! I could ignore his complete inability to understand any metric that wasn't available when the game stories were chipped into tablets during his playing days, but the actual cherry-picking of data to argue that a player isn't as bad as his numbers indicate is the part I can't take. "Orlando Arcia leads the majors in hits from pitches that bounced before home plate".... And other ridiculous factoids which I can't be bothered to save precious memory cells to retain... Pass... Just discuss the positives that are really positives and just stop with the rest... That would make it much easier to keep the volume on.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

Meh, I really like Rock. I don't need genius insight. I'm there to watch the game. He and BA get along great and always keep talking about fun stuff. He's the uncle at the BBQ that's had a few too many, but I like having him around. He has some pretty cool anecdotal stories and every now and then gives me something about catcher play I didn't know. Enjoyed the story the other night about Nolan Ryan.

[RollieTime]

Am I alone in liking Rock up in the booth?

 

I love Rock in the booth. I like that he isn’t afraid to speak his mind whether it’s an umpire making a bad call, a player doing a “dirty play”, things of that sort. He also sticks to his role as a color commentator and doesn’t walk all over BA like you will see other commentators do to the play by play guys at times.

 

Wisconsin does have fantastic play by play guys in pretty much all sports. Any time I listen to a broadcast of another team, I always think of how great we truly have it.

[Jenkins5]

I’ve always liked Rock. Maybe it’s just the bias stemming from him being the guy I have listened to almost my entire life as a Brewer fan (think he started when I was around 6 in earlier 90s). Same as with the Bucks for longest time. Year in & year out, they just become part of being a fan of that team. Of course he is not Smoltz up there but does really good job. Finding a Smoltz or Romo type broadcaster who can call pitch or plays consistently before they happen is awesome but those types are unicorns & why they get paid massive salaries.

 

I think Brewers are in good hands. Rock is good. BA is highly regarded nationally. Lepay is just as enjoyable during Brewer games as he is during Badger games.

 

Really surprised Cirillo didn’t stick with broadcasting. Thought he was very good! He has turned more to scouting & coaching since

[Oxy]

Am I alone in liking Rock up in the booth?

 

Crickets? I don't think that's the case - Rock's fans are the silent minority! I could ignore his complete inability to understand any metric that wasn't available when the game stories were chipped into tablets during his playing days, but the actual cherry-picking of data to argue that a player isn't as bad as his numbers indicate is the part I can't take. "Orlando Arcia leads the majors in hits from pitches that bounced before home plate".... And other ridiculous factoids which I can't be bothered to save precious memory cells to retain... Pass... Just discuss the positives that are really positives and just stop with the rest... That would make it much easier to keep the volume on.

 

That kind of stuff doesn't come from Rock though--from the article linked above it would come from the stat guy that they have in the booth. I like Rock well enough. I think his reputation that is played up here (and in the booth) is a little silly. I think he provides decent analysis and doesn't drone on and on about the stuff that people keep saying he drones on and on about (like, say, Al Hrbosky)

[trwi7]

Andrew Miller comes in the 8th inning to hold a one run lead and here's how it went.

 

Tatis Jr. walks

Hedges homers

Mejia grounds out

Goldschmidt drops a foul pop up, Kinsler then walks

Hosmer flies out

Machado homers