gehringer_2

Mangam was sitting on the change all the way And what is McKInstry doing there.?

Sun just came out in A^2, that should put it over COPA by game time.

that is wierd - I have no idea how that got transposed.

Maybe the tiers are simple, but the once you start in with Bird, Early Bird, Non-Bird exceptions, Mid-Level Exceptions (Non-Taxpayer, Taxpayer, and the Bi-Annual Exception, the value of expiring contracts, etc., etc. your simplicity goes right past the board like a half-court airball trey. 🧩

that's an interesting point, and I wonder if that's a general physiological thing, or just an artifact because if your hitting falls off first, you are out of the league, whereas if you lose a step but still hit you keep your job. So you might end up with an asymmetric distribution for fielding wrt hitting. And of course as guys train for strength over the years for hitting they can lose some elasticity for catching and throwing. I don't know if with modern training that's the issue it once was, but I'd guess it remains in play to some degree.

Which also means it matters how you want to use the statistics. So player X in RF ends up having the opportunity to make some plays in a given season that elevate his DRS compared to player Y, who didn't have those chances, but (for the sake of argument) we know has better tools. If you look at the stats as a measure of accomplishment - like a hitter's counting stats, then we are on solid ground - the guy made the plays and no reason not to credit that. But if you want to predict (say for team building purposes) which player is going to give you better D in the *future*, you may find yourself looking at a number that is not the best predictor. Which is in line with your point about relievers - the parallel being that looking at their secondary stats is generally more predictive of what you are going to get going forward than their cumulative stats like ERA or number of Saves in any given point.

MRD - as we used to say.

Yeah - was just going to post that Lange's rehab was stopped. They claiming 'abundance of caution' so maybe it will be a short break.....maybe.

I agree stability is part - I think it over measures - I don't believe player defensive values ping-pong around from season to season as much as DRS does. So I'd argue your syntax a bit - I wouldn't say DRS stabilizes over time, you're just taking an average over time to create a stability that isn't actually there in the measurement. So in a way that gives it more credit than I would. But the other thing I question is when you put it all together I don't think the total team aggregates pass the smell test. Now it's fine that knowledgeable people understand the limitation of defensive metrics; they aren't easy to get a good handle on, so you do the best you can. The problem is when the defensive piece gets rolled into WAR and the world take that number as gospel.

So it makes sense that positional value of LF is lower in general, but does a guy get dinged for being a LF at COPA, which has higher positional value than most other parks? Aside from that, can't disagree Riley has a noodle arm.

Ironically, in today's game if you are going to drop a bundle, I think a guy that has already had TJ and recovered successfully might be a better risk to keep playing over the life of a contract. 🤷‍♂️

My confidence in DRS has been falling annually.

Team winning without getting much other than Ks from Riley. Riley is a little homer happy. He has 4 hits in July, 3 were HR. But his OBP is only 241.

Colt does not like April. He digs the rest of the season though.

spectator in his own administration.

Still would like to hear what Diaz was thinking going to 2nd in the 1st inning. I guess the most logical assumption is that he thought he was such an easy force at 2nd that the best thing he could do was go easy and stay in the way of the return throw of a 3-6-3 DP attempt. The idea that it could be just be a 3-6 no force and he'd be a tag target apparently didn't enter his mind.

Odd outcomes: Montero has pitched better in Detroit than in Toledo. SGL has pitched better in Toledo than in Det. AAA results would argue SGL for the 5th spot over Montero, but it hasn't worked out that way - at least so far.

It's not like there are no consistent relievers, just not many. Going into ST last season we were all ready for Lange and Foley to be the backend for a few years. Can only laugh at that now.

I don't know how much input he gets, but from listening so far, McLellan doesn't talk like a coach interested in a non-D D-man. Then again, talk is one thing, having an asset in hand is another.

I’m sure they have some data driven framework for just exactly which style of pitcher should follow which.

correct - which is what I was getting at in noting the lack of 'authenticity' in today's US RW Christianity.

that's what works for me when I stick to it.

Not necessarily. The US civil rights movement took great strength from their belief that a "Christian' nation had to be challenged to do better, and took hope in their interpretation of the Gospel that better lives and societies were possible. In my view, authentic Christianity is at heart a subversive ethic that adds to people's motivation to challenge the status quo for the sake of the future. The problem is that there isn't much authentic in US fundamentalist evangelicalism. The great fault line of religious belief is exactly when it's able to be twisted into another mean of control - of which one aspect is exactly inculcation of that sense of fatalism that pacifies the proles.

I think that whole line of argument is probably put out more in service of FOs that use it as an excuse to keep payroll down than because it's a real concern of players.

IDK, athletes in other sports deal with this all the time. I baseball it's often underpaid guys who are pre-FA that are the leaders and drivers of teams. Cade Cunningham was the Pistons' undisputed leader while still on his rookie deal. Not sure why hockey players should have more fragile egos.