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100% don’t mess with the rules because hitters refuse to learn to hit to the opposite field. What’s next? Ban the slider because guys can’t hit it? It would be exactly the same stupid logic.

We should probably rename the Vlad thread "Cleanup on Aisle Lunatic 2: Electric Boogaloo"

Deaden the ball of course, back to 1985, but that twerp Manfred won't ever do it. So, failing that, keep shifting until guys learn to go the other way. Or, when the third baseman plays short against a lefthanded batter, drop a bunt down. That is a skill that can be developed in a relatively short period of time.

So it's okay if the the cool people (guitarists) come visit the nerds here? Asking for a friend.

you know, like the guitar thread, but for people who play other stuff. Portland has this cool synthesizer "library" that I've been taking advantage of this year. first I got a Moog Mother-32. decently cool, and the first Moog I'd gotten my hands on. my next checkout was a Novation Bass Station II, and I'm gonna have to buy one of those. just waiting for the local synth shop to have one of their 10%-off sales so I can get it for under $400. and right now, I have a Moog subharmonicon. kind of a squirrely little sucker, but I'm getting the hang of it. I think some people call it the "happy accident" synth, and I have to agree, since I mostly make it sound like crap until I get the sequencers' rhythm knobs lined up just right and it starts playing the greatest thing ever. last night I had just such an experience, and then I decided around midnight that it needed a beat, so I just had to dig out my drum machine. I was screwing around with all that till like 5 or 5:30 AM, and I was so jacked up by it that I didn't fall asleep till probably almost 8. ugh. what other sorts of music makers do we have around here?

It would look much better laying on an unmade bed.

I posted this in the bar and grill section but wanted to make sure you guys get a chance to watch this if you haven't yet. So with baseball not happening anytime soon I revisted this with my 13 yo son, he enjoyed it. If you have not watched it is a great baseball story I knew nothing about. I mean Big League Chew was invented in the bat boys parents kitchen? You can't make this stuff up!

That sounds good on its face, but the shift has been happening for going on a decade now, and players haven't done this yet. I think it's worth asking why, or offering up hypotheses for it. I think it's because the ball is so juiced that players won't change their pulling ways. Hitting home runs is where the money is. It's the single most highlighted play on all the recap shows during the season. And who doesn't want the money? So players are going to try to jack bombs so they can get paid. And as long as just about any major league hitter can lift a juiced ball into the outfield stands, why not keep trying? Tommy La Stella is a good example of this. He was a banjo-hitting utility man who hit ten homers in his first 828 at bats across five seasons. All of a sudden he goes to Anaheim in 2019 and cranks 16 bombs in 292 at bats before getting hurt. Then he jacks five more in 196 at bats during the COVID season. His pay went from $1,350,000 in 2019, to a pro-ration of $3,250,000 in 2020, and then to a 3 year/$18.75MM deal from the Giants for his age 32-34 seasons. No way he gets that last deal at that advanced age until he hit all those homers in Anaheim. He'd probably be slinking into Arizona or Florida with a minor-league invite going into this, his age 33 season, especially since he turned back into a La Stella last year with a .250/.308/.405 slash line and a 92 OPS+. If even banjo-hitting down-the-order Tommy La Stella can jack bombs with this baseball, and then get good and paid for doing so, then what's the incentive for him, or any other player, to spray the ball all around the field instead of trying to hit the ball over the shift and out of the park?

This is where I was coming down in my post here: sure, I would like to see the players get a good deal because the money in baseball has increased dramatically and overall player comp has actually decreased, and I think that is wholly unfair to the guys who are the real reason so many of us shovel so much money into the game's pockets. But I also want to see baseball being played, and I'm not wired in to the money in any way, so really, how much does it matter in the end which side wins as long as the games get played? I would feel better about it if the players got a fair deal with the new CBA, but really, bottom line, just give me the baseball already.

I would like to see the shift toned down by requiring 4 infielders on the dirt. Shifting in the infielder is fine but the softball player in shallow right field I don't care for . A line drive to shallow right should be a hit and the game needs base runners.

Guys load up with body armor and hover over the plate and demand to be able to hit the ball wherever they want for a hit? Batters want to retain their competitive advantage that suits them while making the defense give up their competitive advantage derived from education? Sorry, not buying it. Defensive positioning evolved over time as teams got smarter about where the ball was most likely to be hit. This is just that. "Sorry, you have to keep the lane clear so that Lebron can dunk..." The Wings did the left wing lock in the 90's and it frustrated the other teams.... so they adapted and beat it. That's how sports works.

Forget the pitcher, just give these wussies a tee...

And all she wants to do is dance.

I personally don't mind the shift. I'm not going to be super upset if outlaw it, but imho if the defense is shifting on you it's because you aren't as good a hitter as someone the defense doesn't shift on. You're not using the whole field. That's on you as a hitter. No like them shifting? Practice hitting the other way. On a side note: How would the rule look? You'd have to get pretty specific with language... something like: "A defense must have two infielders and at least one outfielder on each side of a line drawn from home plate thru 2nd base to the outfield." But then you need to specify a minimum depth that outfields can play... I mean if I was shifting to the first base side I'd just move my "centerfielder" up close to the infield, and shift my "thirdbaseman" to the outfield. The left fielder plays just to the left of the centerline. Now I've satisfied the rule and still get my shift. I mean you should end up seeing a line of chalk through the outfield designating how far back the outfielders have to play.

Likewise. I think the majority of the academics who pull the strings at Michigan are the same, but at the same time, money talks. In a big money sport, money yells. Schools across the US are perfectly content to contribute to questionable ethics within athletics on one hand while publicly praising their commitment to integrity and academic excellence on the other. Seldom are they put into a position where they have to choose though, and that’s where M finds themselves now.

I will say I think Holmes should at least engage Philadelphia (and pretty much every team in between us and Philly) in conversation about their interest in moving up. Not all three picks, they’d hang up on him. If they would consider trading two of 15/16/19 for #2 though, I would strongly consider it, even though the draft chart says we would be losing that trade by quite a bit. Having two prospects in the teens is greater than having one in the top five this draft. IMO.

nope, closed for the holiday.

its his second offense too. look, everyone hates wisconsin. theyre a dirty team. theyre annoying as hell. the troll center is a terrible place to play. but you cant do that. at the very very least he has to be suspended for the rest of the year. he really should be fired.

the saintly players union would never do that.

When it comes to “sides” I agree with the players. But I too am fed up with the echo chamber in some of the “media”. This isn’t a social Justice issue. There’s no moral imperative here. It’s business. I want to watch baseball and I don’t care who wins or loses as long as I get to do that.

That one is very impressive! I'm very jealous of your collection.

He won MVP in the Rising Stars with 18 pts, 7 'bounds, 9 dimes, 3 steals and 3 blocks (I think) so... definitely... relevant...!

Big divisions are better than small divisions, but with half the teams making the playoffs, it's not going to matter anyway. The regular season is going to meaningless.

When Travolta first read the treatment for Vincent Vega - he didn't like it. He didn't want to play a heroin addict and he was a little turned off by the violence but people told him to meet QT, that there was a great buzz about him. So Travolta went to QT's apartment to meet - and it was the exact same apartment Travolta lived in when he got started in showbiz and that's when he knew it was meant to be.

too many people have no idea how to drive a car at a speed. They are totally dependent on cueing off another car (and apparently refuse to use cruise control). They are the people that are always in the way because they speed up as you approach them and slow down if you try to give them room. I call them 'magnet' drivers. I amuse myself on trips by slowly increasing speed when there is a 'magnet' latched on behind me or even in the next lane in my blindspot, to see how fast they will will go matching my car before they ever look down at their own speedo or otherwise recognize their own speed and suddenly and finally fall off my tail.