chasfh

Jesus, what are these people, fifteen? What a clown show.

So this is what it’s like to have a team that can jack bombs. Huh. I could get used to something like that.

Keith bomb #1!

I’ve gone a third of a season or so and I’ve decided that I can’t listen to Jason Benetti with Craig Monroe anymore. It’s just too much chuckleheadedness for me. Benetti feeds Monroe’s muse and allows him to give in to his worst impulses. I don’t mind Monroe with Dan Dickerson because Dan is all business and keeps Monroe reined in. I get that most people love Benetti and Monroe and they might be the permanent team next year, but I’m pretty much out on them.

Looks like he knows how to control the strike zone! 😁

You can love any staff you want. No judgment here! 👍🏽😉🤣

I don't know if Tork is the best guy to articulate the strategy. In any event, maybe they're taking too many pitches that are good to hit because they are not good hitters. It seems to be working at Lakeland. And I agree that eventually they will get the right players in at the big league level to execute the strategy properly. But don't worry, even after they do, it'll be totally OK if you still hate the staff! 🤣

The way Maeda has pitched this year so far, absolutely not.

Hopefully not the end ...

I hope he tears a rotator cuff while pulling up the ladder.

No thanks. My stomach is doing flip flops just reading what you've posted.

The Hamm what am!

It seems like people are interpreting "control the strike zone" as meaning Harris and Hinch want their hitters to take as many pitches as humanly possible even if it gets them into 0-2 counts they have to fight their way out of, or even taking three pitches down the pipe and walking back to the dugout proud of their part in sticking to the strategy, but I don't think merely taking pitches without thinking is what Harris and Hinch are aiming for. I think what they want is for hitters to focus on swinging on pitches that are in the strike zone to put them in play, versus swinging on balls well outside the strike zone and missing and expanding the zone for the pitcher. It's also about having to plan to attack the strike zone and sticking to the plan even after strike one. If that's what it's about, if it's about attacking the zone and swinging at ball thrown within it, then why are so many guys watching strike one go down the pipe and then struggling to put the barrel on middle-middle? I think the main reasons out players are struggling with that at the big league level is not because the strategy is a steaming pile of freshly-dumped ****, but that they have habits ingrained through the years they're having trouble fighting through; or they have mental lapses and have trouble consistently putting the strategy into practice; or they get frustrated at times and forget the strategy in a bid to change everything with one swing; or they are simply not good hitters and won't be here for the long term anyway; or they are shortstops on the back half of their career who have checked out and can't be reached. Controlling the zone is preached throughout the minors as well. That's why we see most of our farm teams toward the top in walks and OPS, and toward the bottom in strikeouts. Lakeland is a shining example of this, and is really the first team completely put together by the Harris regime. The teams toward the top of the system still have the remnants of the prior regime, with players whose habits are more ingrained and more difficult to iron out. So I can see how the strategy is not going to help us play into November so much this year, not because the strategy is ****ing asinine and everyone connected to it should be catapulted into the sun, but because we just don't have the horses in-house yet to effectively win rings with it. We might do marginally better with some members of this group as the season progresses and the coaches refine the approach, but we're probably not going to have a team epiphany and lead the league in runs from this day forward. Bottom line is, the strategy of controlling the strike zone from the batter's box is not going away, and I don't believe it should go away, anyway.

There are already certain rules that require appeal, meaning the umpire would call it a certain way but the rules don’t allow him to do so unless it’s brought to his attention. I think this is one of those cases.

I believe it’s because there are unionized people in the game who are against that and that counts for something, so much as we’d like to see this, Baseball can’t simply impose their will on them as it relates to this issue.

Next up: arbitration, free agency, and agent-brokered multiyear contracts?

People hate change. Change threatens people because they're not always sure it won't roll over on them and make things for them much worse. I will forego mentioning the political corollary to that here. I can't see where a rounded strike zone makes things better.

Almost perfect description of 2021, too.

Well, if you’re looking for someone who can mismanage bullpens with the best of ‘em, David Ross is your man.

This is the type of situation where shakeups happen which, to the dismay of most here, will probably start with players and not PBOs.

That’s not the only thing. What’s Manfred talking about when says that the “shape of the strike zone” being round is being discussed? As in, that’s what they might implement with an ABS system? A rounded strike zone? If they’re going to do that, that means either portions above the plate would have to be called a ball, or portions above areas beyond the plate would have to be called a strike—or both at the same time. Exactly how is that going to work? See, this is what you get when you let lawyers shape the game on the field.

We are actually in more dangerous territory with this than even I imagined when I posted this. Getting blown out four times in a row—“blown out” meaning losing by five or more runs—has how happened 156 times in modern ball, which makes it roughly a three-times-every-two-years event. It happened to the Rockies last year. The Angels and Nationals got blown out four times in a row in 2022. So did the Rangers in 2021. You get the idea. However, only 25 teams have ever lost five or more blowouts in a row. That’s a one-in-every-five-years event. That last happened to the Cubs in 2014, though, so that’s almost ten years ago. Before that it was the Brewers in 2010, Royals in 2009, and Marlins in 2002. Before that, it was the Tigers in 2000, although that 5+-streak was actually six blowout losses in a row. Six-plus has happened only six times, the last one before the millennial Tigers being the 1981 Cubs. That was a shortened season, too, so “kudos” to the Cubs for the extra effort. Only two teams have ever lost as many as seven in a row: the 1901 Giants; and the 1911 whatever-the-Boston-National-League-team-was-called-that-year. (According to Baseball Reference, they had no nickname.) Bottom line: we can’t get blown out again tonight.

He reminds me of Waving Wendell Kim of the Cubs from 20-ish years ago.

Four straight blowout losses. That’s not a skid, that’s a thud.

You can’t threaten a coach on camera with his job. That’s got to happen behind closed doors.