2014 Baseball season/Off Season Discussion

[pilferk]

It's only one inning but not liking what i'm seeing from Sabathia so far. He's still trying to be that power pitcher with fastball topping 89. Hey thick head you can't challenge hitters at this level with an 89 mph fastball they'll pulverize it every time!

Once he got loose...he topped out around 90.  I think I saw one reading of 91.

He was also victimized by piss poor defense in that first inning.  That should have been a 2 run inning, not a 4.

But, that being said, he still wasn't very good.  Once again, victimized by the bomb (shades of last year).  It's early, and CC is a notoriously slow starter.  I'm not worried,yet.

Having said that, for all the talk of "learning to pitch with the velocity he has"...I didn't see anything different than last year.

[faldor]

It's only one inning but not liking what i'm seeing from Sabathia so far. He's still trying to be that power pitcher with fastball topping 89. Hey thick head you can't challenge hitters at this level with an 89 mph fastball they'll pulverize it every time!

Once he got loose...he topped out around 90.  I think I saw one reading of 91.

He was also victimized by piss poor defense in that first inning.  That should have been a 2 run inning, not a 4.

But, that being said, he still wasn't very good.  Once again, victimized by the bomb (shades of last year).  It's early, and CC is a notoriously slow starter.  I'm not worried,yet.

Having said that, for all the talk of "learning to pitch with the velocity he has"...I didn't see anything different than last year.

Didn't see the game. Was the poor defense in the infield? Many have commented on how bad their infield defense should be this year. Wondering if that's showing early on.

[pilferk]

Didn't see the game. Was the poor defense in the infield? Many have commented on how bad their infield defense should be this year. Wondering if that's showing early on.

All over. But..the thing is...not from the places you'd think.

Tex had a terrible throw home (which would have certainly beat the runner if it was good).

Girardi made the unexplainable decision to pull the defense in with a guy on third base, 1 out, and with the score 0-0....which meant a hot smash went under jeters glove (not jeters fault).

CC. had a wild pitch (which, IMHO, looked a lot more like a passed ball).

Bobble by Betran in the outfield (the only Error charged in the game) in the 2nd.

Again...I'm not saying CC was effective.  He wasn't.  But after 2, it probably should have been 4-0 (with 3 ER) instead of 6-0 (with 6 ER).

[tim_m]

It's only one inning but not liking what i'm seeing from Sabathia so far. He's still trying to be that power pitcher with fastball topping 89. Hey thick head you can't challenge hitters at this level with an 89 mph fastball they'll pulverize it every time!

Once he got loose...he topped out around 90.  I think I saw one reading of 91.

He was also victimized by piss poor defense in that first inning.  That should have been a 2 run inning, not a 4.

But, that being said, he still wasn't very good.  Once again, victimized by the bomb (shades of last year).  It's early, and CC is a notoriously slow starter.  I'm not worried,yet.

Having said that, for all the talk of "learning to pitch with the velocity he has"...I didn't see anything different than last year.

Defense certainly didn't help  for sure.

Exactly and that's what worries me. He seems to still wanna try and be that pitcher who can throw 95 and he's not that anymore. You just can't consistently throw a 90mph fastball by these guys unless you can hit your spots and use off speed pitches more effectively. At least velocity increased a bit. I didn't see the rest of the game. I got disgusted and turned it off.

[tim_m]

Didn't see the game. Was the poor defense in the infield? Many have commented on how bad their infield defense should be this year. Wondering if that's showing early on.

All over. But..the thing is...not from the places you'd think.

Tex had a terrible throw home (which would have certainly beat the runner if it was good).

Girardi made the unexplainable decision to pull the defense in with a guy on third base, 1 out, and with the score 0-0....which meant a hot smash went under jeters glove (not jeters fault).

CC. had a wild pitch (which, IMHO, looked a lot more like a passed ball).

Bobble by Betran in the outfield (the only Error charged in the game) in the 2nd.

Again...I'm not saying CC was effective.  He wasn't.  But after 2, it probably should have been 4-0 (with 3 ER) instead of 6-0 (with 6 ER).

It was pretty bad. I hope that defense isn't an indication of how its gonna be this season. Otherwise we're in big trouble.

[russkwtx]

I wish the discussion could be about teams other than the Yankees. 

[pilferk]

I wish the discussion could be about teams other than the Yankees. 

You start..we'll follow.

I'm a baseball fan, and watch a TON of teams.  While I'm certainly a Yanks fan, if you want to talk about other teams, all you have to do is bring them up.   We've had LOTS of discussions, in past years, on LOTS of topics and teams.  But stuff really doesn't heat up until we start to hit June-ish.  Til then..you're really not sure what any team is going to be.  Ex: Does anyone really think the brewers are going to win 120 games (their current pace)?

So far, though, other than the Brewers being amazing, and the Mets not being terrible...I'm not sure there are many other "surprises" going on right now.

[Falcon]

A cool feature on Yadier Molina in todays New York Times:

From Behind the Plate, a Dutiful Master Orchestrates the Cardinals
By TYLER KEPNER, NY Times

Baseball on television is nothing like basketball and football. In those sports, the primary camera angle shows most, if not all, of the participants. In baseball, you mostly see just two of the defensive players on every pitch.

What luck, for students of the game, that one of those positions is catcher. Hundreds of times as the Mets host St. Louis this week for four games at Citi Field, the Cardinals? Yadier Molina will face the center-field camera from his crouch behind the plate, offering a view of the master at work.

?He looks like a shortstop behind the plate,? said the Yankees? Brian McCann, a seven-time All-Star catcher. ?He makes it look so easy, and it?s so hard. Every time I play against him, I watch him closely.?

Molina offers a course in advanced catching, a daily seminar on the nuances of the game?s most demanding position. But only he has the answer key.

?The things he does midgame, you?d have to watch him with a pretty educated eye as far as realizing when he does something that has meaning,? said Mike Matheny, the Cardinals? manager and Molina?s predecessor as their starting catcher. ?The other side won?t even know.?

Matheny was speaking in the visiting manager?s office at Miller Park last week before a game against the Brewers. In the second inning that night, starter Shelby Miller, who had walked two already, fell behind Khris Davis, 3-0. Molina called time and marched to the mound.

?My bad,? Miller told Molina. ?I?m going to try to settle down right here.?

Molina did not break his stride. He reached for the rosin bag, tossed it back to the ground and returned to the plate. ?He didn?t say a word,? Miller said later. ?I think he was just giving me a break.?

This was vintage Molina, recognizing danger before it struck. Miller threw a ball with his next pitch, but he struck out the next hitter on three pitches. Molina later told him that he was falling off to the left side in his delivery. Miller realigned his body and cruised to his first win of the season, without another walk.

?I pretty much worship the ground he walks on,? said Miller, who was 15-9 as a rookie last season. ?I know for a fact that I was more of a thrower in the minor leagues. We have a lot of great catchers down there, but once you get to the big-league level, it?s weird because when you feel like you should have more pressure on you, you have less.?

Molina is the reason, Miller said, because of his impeccable pitch selection. Molina often arrives six hours before a game to prepare, but he is a master at improvisation based on clues he reads from his pitchers and opposing hitters.

?I?ve often heard guys say about Yadi, ?Man, I feel like he?s a psychic,? ? said Jonathan Lucroy, the Brewers? catcher. ?He knows what you?re thinking, and he does the exact opposite.?

Miller said he shook off Molina?s signs no more than five times a year. Kevin Siegrist, a Cardinals reliever who made 45 appearances last year, his rookie season, said he had never shaken off Molina. The veteran Adam Wainwright said he and Molina knew each other so well that they sometimes communicated signs by a simple look or shrug ? no fingers necessary.

The factors behind Molina?s pitch selection usually, and understandably, remain a mystery. Molina, who calls every pitch on his own and often sets the defense, would gain nothing by explaining his hundreds of decisions each game. The youngest of three brothers, all major league catchers, Molina said his attention to detail came from a sense of duty.

?My family taught me about that, about being the leader, being there for your teammates and caring about everything during the game, after the game, before the game,? Molina, 31, said by his locker last week. ?Just care about your teammates, care about the game, try to be good each day. That?s the way I do my part.?

When he entered the majors in 2004, Molina said, he cared so much about defense and helping the pitchers that he did not have time to concentrate properly on his offense. In 2006 ? the year his Game 7 homer in the National League Championship Series devastated the Mets ? he hit just .216 in the regular season. He constantly changed his stance and seemed not to trust himself as a hitter.

?Now he knows what type of hitter he is, so he?s kind of a right-field, right-center hitter,? said the Yankees? Carlos Beltran, who played with Molina in St. Louis the last two seasons. ?Now he?s not trying to hit homers, and just by not trying, now he?s hitting homers.?

Molina has hit above .300 in each of the last three seasons, with a high of 22 homers in 2012, and his average this year was .338 through Sunday. Molina can be as cagey at the plate as he is behind it. Pat Neshek, a veteran reliever who signed with the Cardinals in February, said he had seen Molina bait opposing pitchers into thinking he would not swing ? and then surprise them by smacking a hit.

Molina, who entered the majors at 21, said he fell for similar kinds of deception when he was younger, and sometimes still did. ?I?m human,? he said. ?There?s going to be a case when that happens. But right now, I?m faster to get it. You play more games, you get more maturity, and you get smarter.?

Molina said the physical parts of his job were so ingrained that he did not need to think about them. On Friday, he made a rare miscue when he was not able to keep a wild pitch in front of him and his throwing error allowed a second run to score. Teammates, though, say he arrives at the Cardinals? complex at 6 a.m. during spring training to practice blocking drills so pitchers will feel confident throwing breaking balls with a runner on third. He controls the running game with a quick transfer and a strong, accurate arm. He gets borderline strike calls mostly by keeping his glove still.

?Watch the way Yadi receives balls, how soft his hands are,? Wainwright said. ?There?s nothing violent. If he catches a ball that?s below the zone, he?s never pushing it down. He?s always gently receiving it. He?s going to pull it up to the zone ever so slightly, or he?s just going to stick it. And he has those soft hands, so there?s no jerking.

?He sets up his target as wide as he can, puts the target right in the middle of his body, and he doesn?t move. A lot of catchers, you?ll see them give you the target and then drop their glove for a little bit and then pull the target back up. So if you?re a pitcher like me that follows the glove, you?re trying to hit a moving target as opposed to a very still glove, which is a lot easier to do.?

Wainwright, who jumped into Molina?s arms to celebrate the final out of the 2006 World Series, smiled and added, ?Little things.? The accumulation of little things, and a combination of talent, effort and conscientiousness, has made Molina as respected as perhaps any player in the game, referred to with the kind of reverence one might hear for Derek Jeter, or the retired Roy Halladay or Mariano Rivera.

Molina said he was proud of that reputation, even if fans did not always cheer him. Molina has not homered against the Mets since that N.L.C.S. crusher, but the sting of that hit reverberates in the booing he hears at Citi Field. Molina does not care about that. By then, he is working, a master to witness but oblivious to anything but his job.

?It doesn?t bother me,? he said. ?Seriously. Whenever I?m on the field, I?m another guy.?

[GeorgeSteele]

Nice win for the Mets over the Cards last night, but the next 3 games of the series against Wainwright, Wacha and Lynn could get ugly.

Not even a month has gone by and the Mets are on their 3rd closer of the season, this time Farnsworth (who they cut in spring training). 

They finally pulled the trigger on dumping Ike Davis.  Of course, last night he hit a grand slam on a broken bat swing.  Seriously, if the trade ends up getting him on track, that's great for him, but what a disappointment his Met tenure ended up being. 

Finally, I can't take all these stupid uniform variations any more.  They have now worn 7 different jerseys in the past 7 games.  This has to stop. 

[pilferk]

Nice win for the Mets over the Cards last night, but the next 3 games of the series against Wainwright, Wacha and Lynn could get ugly.

Not even a month has gone by and the Mets are on their 3rd closer of the season, this time Farnsworth (who they cut in spring training). 

They finally pulled the trigger on dumping Ike Davis.  Of course, last night he hit a grand slam on a broken bat swing.  Seriously, if the trade ends up getting him on track, that's great for him, but what a disappointment his Met tenure ended up being. 

Finally, I can't take all these stupid uniform variations any more.  They have now worn 7 different jerseys in the past 7 games.  This has to stop. 

Agree, from top to bottom.

ESPECIALLY the uniform variations.  Terrible.  I get the occasional change/special day, but it's getting to the point where it seems like we've got 50 different uniforms for 162 games.

[tim_m]

I admit the ones the the Mets wore last night were pretty awful. My uncle came home from work turned the game on on MLB EI and the first thing he said was how ugly their uniforms were.

[tim_m]

On a more important note it looks like surgery is in Ivan Nova's future. He has a partial tear of his UCL.

[tim_m]

Congrats to Albert Pujols on home run number 500.

[Falcon]

Congrats to Albert Pujols on home run number 500.

3rd fastest to 500 behind Jimmie Foxx and ARod.

And the best hitter I've ever seen, congrats AP.

[tim_m]

Congrats to Albert Pujols on home run number 500.

3rd fastest to 500 behind Jimmie Foxx and ARod.

And the best hitter I've ever seen, congrats AP.

I got to see it too. I turned back to the Yankees/Sox game on mlb network just in time to see him hit it. They were showing split screen.

[Falcon]

Jason Stark breaks down Albert's career thus far, absolutely insane numbers.

He's reached the rarified air of Ruth, Williams and Foxx - not bad.

The .300/.400/500/.600 Club

This is one of my favorite sets of numbers, because it provides us with one of the most exalted group of hitters who ever lived. You need:

?.300 batting average or better.
?.400 on-base percentage or better.
?500 home runs or more.
?.600 slugging percentage or better.

Now here are the three men in history who get to hang out in this clubhouse:
?Ted Williams .344/.482/521/.634
?Babe Ruth .342/.474/714/.690
?Jimmie Foxx .325/.428/534/.609


Read here:

http://espn.go.com/blog/jayson-stark/post/_/id/769/appreciating-albert-pujols

[tim_m]

So far hitters against Tanaka in 2 strike counts are 5 for 61. Ouch.

[faldor]

I heard a stat yesterday that seems to clearly indicate how much the Red Sox miss Ellsbury and how much he's helped the Yankees. I've often wondered how a lead off hitter can be so important, when he only really leads off once a game. But a good lead off hitter can provide stability to a lineup, something the Sox have sorely missed this year. They've tried Nava, Gomes, Pedroia, Holt, and Sizemore in the role so far and without much success. Victorino may get a shot when he returns, and he and Middlebrooks should help bolster the lineup a bit. But so far, the offense has been severely lacking. Defense has been bad as well. Pitching was good until recently, but 4 of the last 5 games they've gotten behind big early. Which exemplifies this stat. So far this season, the Red Sox have scored 2 first inning runs. The Yankees have 12. I can't even imagine how badly the Sox have been out scored in the first this year. Not a particularly good trend.

[tim_m]

Yep and Ellsbury was responsible for runs right off the bat last night with the lead off triple. I see Nava has been optioned to Triple A. It likely won't get any easier tonight for the Sox against Pinaeda. They need to hope he has his first bad start.

[pilferk]

I heard a stat yesterday that seems to clearly indicate how much the Red Sox miss Ellsbury and how much he's helped the Yankees. I've often wondered how a lead off hitter can be so important, when he only really leads off once a game. But a good lead off hitter can provide stability to a lineup, something the Sox have sorely missed this year. They've tried Nava, Gomes, Pedroia, Holt, and Sizemore in the role so far and without much success. Victorino may get a shot when he returns, and he and Middlebrooks should help bolster the lineup a bit. But so far, the offense has been severely lacking. Defense has been bad as well. Pitching was good until recently, but 4 of the last 5 games they've gotten behind big early. Which exemplifies this stat. So far this season, the Red Sox have scored 2 first inning runs. The Yankees have 12. I can't even imagine how badly the Sox have been out scored in the first this year. Not a particularly good trend.

It's early for the Sox.  They had a terrible start last year, too.   

I expect they'll be right in the thick of it this year, too.  If, in June, they're still at or near the bottom of the divison...then worry.  They're in the midst of a KILLER stretch of games in their schedule. Yanks, White Sox, O's, Yanks, Blue Jays, Rays, A's.  Crazy stretch....the only positive being a lot of it is at Fenway.

Though the story of cellar to WS champ to cellar would be a pretty interesting one...I don't think it's very likely to happen.