[Stirfry]

Nats fan here- I was NOT happy when we hired Baker, a man notorious for his opposition to modern metrics, meaningless baseball cliches, and abuse of his pitching staff. We have a decent team this year which might win despite him, rather than because of them.

That being said I'm still excited about this season- I'd say that our starting pitchers, 1 through 4, can match up with anyone, and any team with Bryce Harper has a puncher's chance. Anyone in the DC area interested in taking in a game and throwing back a few overpriced beers let me know :-)

[dark_g]

(04-09-2016 11:37 AM)Stirfry Wrote:  

Nats fan here- I was NOT happy when we hired Baker, a man notorious for his opposition to modern metrics, meaningless baseball cliches, and abuse of his pitching staff. We have a decent team this year which might win despite him, rather than because of them.

That being said I'm still excited about this season- I'd say that our starting pitchers, 1 through 4, can match up with anyone, and any team with Bryce Harper has a puncher's chance. Anyone in the DC area interested in taking in a game and throwing back a few overpriced beers let me know :-)

I wasn't a big Harper fan when he first came into the league. I thought of him as a young big mouth punk. But seeing that he has the production to back up his mouth and his whole" Make Baseball fun again" attitude, He's starting to grow on me. Baseball can be a little boring to watch sometimes, I'm all for anything that makes it more exciting.

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=espn:15135307

[Chunnel]

I had a huge essay written that I accidentally tabbed out of so I don't feel like re-writing it. Instead I'll just post the article from moral high ground chest bumping SJW trying to find fault in baseball, and its so-called whiteness.

I use baseball to avoid the bullshit that has become society, as baseball seems to somehow be insulated from SJW antics. Thus, articles like this sadden me, in which problems are being pulled out of thin air simply because they can in this era of being offended and having the means to voice this perceived offence. The comments, however bring me some comfort.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/10/magazi...eball.html

Quote:

By instinct, honed reflex and general contrarianism, I root for all “flashy” “showboats” who are “disgraces to the game.” It has been this way since I left Boston at age 10 to move to North Carolina, a state with no notable baseball team save the minor-league Durham Bulls, who, at least when I was growing up, seemed more a Hollywood relic than a ball club. Freed from having to like the Red Sox, I began to root for Rickey Henderson of the Oakland Athletics, mostly because I liked how deeply he squatted while taking a lead off first base. He seemed as if he were taunting the pitcher. As I grew older and started feeling alienated from my white classmates, I gravitated toward athletes who, in some way, flouted the white, stoic traditions of American sports — Allen Iverson, Ken Griffey Jr., Rasheed Wallace, Pedro Martinez. I felt as if this was a moral choice.

As this baseball season begins, I’ve been thinking about Henderson because of a problem that has been discussed ad nauseam in sports media: Whether we’re talking about Mike Trout, the young center fielder for the Los Angeles Angels whose beefy efficiency has already put him on track to become one of the greatest players of all time, or Clayton Kershaw, the tall Dodgers lefty with the knee-buckling curveball, or Giancarlo Stanton, the Miami Marlins slugger who signed a $325 million contract, baseball’s pool of young talent just doesn’t captivate fans like the stars of football and basketball.

From a financial point of view, of course, the sport is doing just fine. Overall ballpark attendance is up. According to Forbes, the average value of a major-league team jumped nearly 50 percent between 2014 and 2015, and last season the league’s annual overall revenue approached a record $9.5 billion.

But baseball’s cultural relevance has been in a steady decline. Doomsday prophets point to the N.F.L.’s dominant TV ratings, the advancing age of baseball’s core fans — the median age of baseball’s TV audience is 56; basketball’s is 41 — and the hordes of young acolytes who bury their heads in their phones to watch Vines of Steph Curry’s nimble acrobatics. Social-media metrics aren’t gospel, of course, but baseball measures up badly on virtually every online barometer, whether Twitter trends, Facebook activity or Instagram posts. Aside from some New York-related blips, World Series ratings have been steadily decreasing for the last 20 years.

The source of baseball’s diminished hold on our imaginations runs much deeper than social-media strategy. The problem lies in the demographics of baseball’s rosters, and the shameful way in which the majority of its media has failed to pay anything approaching adequate attention to the Latino players who have entered the game over the last two decades.

Rather than embrace and promote its Spanish-speaking stars, baseball’s media have mostly ignored them. My addition: this straight up, pure unadulterated horseshit..... My rebuttal, Mariano Rivera

Baseball used to be seen as a reflection of the country’s progress on race. Its 1947 integration, which predated the Civil Rights Act by 17 years, has been upheld as a sign of the sport’s essentially democratic spirit; generations of writers and thinkers, like Philip Roth, Don DeLillo and Chris Rock, found in baseball an embodiment of America’s great experiment, contradictions and all. But there was always a saccharine dimension to the idealism about the game: Baseball represented a very particular, buttoned-up version of American identity, and players who deviated from it were often subject to harsh criticism.

In 1994, Buck Showalter, then the manager of the Yankees, complained about the way the Seattle Mariners’ star player, Ken Griffey Jr., wore his hat backward and his “shirttails” untucked. Showalter said it showed a lack of “respect for the game.” For this, he was booed during a road trip to Seattle. Griffey told reporters that Showalter was “jealous because he doesn’t have a 24-year-old who can carry my jock.” Griffey became one of the most marketable stars in the league; two years later, Nike ran an advertising campaign premised on a Griffey run for president that prominently featured his backward hat.

The Griffey showdown was one in a long line of coded racial arguments, minor battles between two types: the “standard” white player and his nonwhite foil. The archetype of the white baseball player has always been a study in negative space. He does not flip his bat after home runs. He does not insult the hard-working fans with talk about politics. He never takes more than one day at a time. As a result, he cannot exist without a foil to embody all those “flashy” or “hot­headed” or “provocative” things he is not. The foils, of course, have generally been black. But as the demographics of the sport have changed, so, too, has this dynamic.

Last year, black players made up just over 8 percent of big-league rosters, down more than 50 percent from 1981. Analysts have been searching for an explanation. Some argue that baseball’s retrograde culture and traditions no longer appeal to inner-city youth who have been mesmerized by the speed of basketball and football. Others focus, far more convincingly, on the rising expenses of youth baseball programs and the relative dearth of scholarships offered by college baseball programs: According to a report from the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport, black players made up only 2.9 percent of Division I college baseball teams in 2014-2015.

The decline in black faces in the Major Leagues coincided with a surge in Latino players, who made up roughly 30 percent of rosters last year. But rather than embrace and promote its Spanish-speaking stars, baseball’s media have mostly ignored them. Even the Latino players who were ultimately celebrated and enshrined in the Hall of Fame have had to go through humiliating acculturations to make them seem more American. For example, the press insisted on referring to Roberto Clemente as Bob or Bobby, something he hated. Vladimir Guerrero, the Clemente of the aughts, who hit and threw with a balletic violence, seemed to go through his entire career without a single memorable interview or profile.

Baseball still has the power to create the sorts of moments that turn rebellious kids into lifelong fans. This past October, José Bautista of the Toronto Blue Jays emphatically flung his bat up the first base line after hitting a dramatic, late-inning home run in the playoffs, an outburst that shot into every corner of social media. Bautista almost seemed to be staking out new turf in what was considered acceptable — it was the most unapologetic bat flip I can recall seeing in the Major Leagues — and so, predictably, it generated controversy. Nearly five months later, Goose Gossage, the crotchety Hall of Fame closer, told an ESPN reporter that “Bautista is a [expletive] disgrace to the game. He’s embarrassing to all the Latin players, whoever played before him.”

In November, Bautista published an article titled “Are You Flipping Kidding Me?” on the website The Players’ Tribune, in which he wrote about the bad faith of the media toward Latino players, the fact that their celebrating was seen as unsportsmanlike and how the pressure to play by “country club” rules chafed. “Baseball is a metaphor for America,” Bautista wrote. “It’s a giant melting pot made up of people from all over the world and all walks of life. How can you expect everybody to be exactly the same? Act exactly the same? More importantly, why would you want them to?”

This year, for the first time ever, all 30 Major League ball clubs will be required to hire a full-time Spanish-language translator. That it took until 2016 for baseball to provide a bridge between Spanish-speaking players and the public shows just how little baseball has cared about any story that fell outside its usual archetypes. But such negligence is shortsighted. It’s hard to imagine the “Griffey in ’96” campaign without Showalter, or Reggie Jackson’s ’70s superstardom without the press boxes full of old men who bristled every time he spoke. These stories, and all the conflict, contradiction and excitement they bring, are the very catalysts of nationwide interest.

[Switch]

With how expensive it has become to be a good player due to year round leagues, travel ball, and personal hitting and pitching coaches, many blacks and latinos are simply getting priced out of the game in the USA. This trend is not going to reverse itself any time soon, so expect baseball to become less black and more white/foreign as time goes on.

[dark_g]

(04-18-2016 12:30 AM)Switch Wrote:  

With how expensive it has become to be a good player due to year round leagues, travel ball, and personal hitting and pitching coaches, many blacks and latinos are simply getting priced out of the game in the USA. This trend is not going to reverse itself any time soon, so expect baseball to become less black and more white/foreign as time goes on.

It's not just happening in Baseball, other sports are experiencing this also. And it's not just Blacks and Latino's being effected. Anyone(including whites) who don't have the financial means to pay to have their kid receive "elite" training is at a disadvantage.

[Disco_Volante]

ESPN fired Curt Schilling for posting 'derogatory' remarks towards trannys.

http://www.sbnation.com/2016/4/20/114758...t-facebook

He posted this on his twitter.
   


He has several daughters, like any common sense man he doesn't want his girls around 50yr old men in the same bathroom.

Of course ESPN (jew-owned) had to fire him for his 'bigotry'.
Last year he was punished for criticizing muslims. (who've been slaughtering people around the world.)

I never even liked Curt but he's the only one with common sense. They've replaced him with that fucking girl announcer how pathetic.

[Chunnel]

(04-18-2016 12:30 AM)Switch Wrote:  

With how expensive it has become to be a good player due to year round leagues, travel ball, and personal hitting and pitching coaches, many blacks and latinos are simply getting priced out of the game in the USA. This trend is not going to reverse itself any time soon, so expect baseball to become less black and more white/foreign as time goes on.

(04-18-2016 06:49 PM)dark_g Wrote:  

(04-18-2016 12:30 AM)Switch Wrote:  

With how expensive it has become to be a good player due to year round leagues, travel ball, and personal hitting and pitching coaches, many blacks and latinos are simply getting priced out of the game in the USA. This trend is not going to reverse itself any time soon, so expect baseball to become less black and more white/foreign as time goes on.

It's not just happening in Baseball, other sports are experiencing this also. And it's not just Blacks and Latino's being effected. Anyone(including whites) who don't have the financial means to pay to have their kid receive "elite" training is at a disadvantage.

In theory, sure, this makes sense, but I think it is overblown. 15-20 years ago this was probably the case, but the trends are already shifting.

For example, in 2001, Baseball America's Top 100 prospects had a total of 8 African American players in the rankings. Fast forward to this year's rankings, and the number is up to 18! 2015 was 13, and I believe 2014 was either 15 or 16 in the top 100. I was very surprised by these results, and considering the top 100 prospects generally provide a good representation of the demographics in the MLB, I would not be shocked to see the percentage of African Americans increase about 10%. This shift, I think is the result of either of 2 things:

1) African Americans families are increasing their presence in the showcase circuit

or

2) scouting departments are changing how they scout talent to draft and sign

1 seems unlikely, but I don't have anything to prove it or disprove either way. However, with number 2 there is an obvious shift in how scouting constantly changes. The big deal in baseball is looking for market inefficiencies. Billy Beane started the trend at the major league level; and now that the game is rapidly turning into maximizing player value as early as possible (due to quicker peaks and faster declines of players) the market inefficiencies are being sought in scouting and player development.

There are some believers in the northern high school player market inefficiency after Mike Trout, easily the best player in the 2009 draft got passed up 24 times before the Angels selected him. Since he was from Jersey, played ball only half the year, and probably never or rarely played any tournaments in Texas, Florida, NC, etc., he simply got overlooked, or scouts downplayed his abilities due to the level of his competition.

Whether its causation or not who knows, but, in the 2010 draft, 6 high school players were drafted in the first round from northern high schools, and 2011 there were 3, 2012 only 1, and back to 3 in 2013. Mike Trout was the only one drafted from a northern high school in 2009.

So looking for inefficiencies continues.

Now it seems finding speedy, athletic, toolsy players, many happen to be African American, is becoming popular. Granted it has always been popular to dream no talent, but not at the rate seen the past few years (hence why there are 18 African American in the top 100, and 5 or 6 would not fit the mold above). Guys like Byron Buxton, Tim Anderson, JP Crawford, Lewis Brinson, Nick Gordon, etc. have remarkably high ceilings, with a much better chance of reaching them than they may have had 15 years ago... Why? Teams invest in and care so much about their farm systems now, because of the surplus value to be gained paying a 23 year old rookie league minimum to put up a 3-Win season, instead of paying some veteran in free agency 15 million to provide the same value. Also, teams have much more confidence in their ability to transfer tools into actual skills.

Essentially, certain teams know how to maximize raw potential, and turn it into something useable at a much higher rate than 15 years ago. If anything, I expect this to continue. Scouts will become more savvy in their US recruiting, relying less and less on showcase tournaments, and we will see an increasing presence of African Americans in the MLB.

[Chunnel]

(04-20-2016 07:42 PM)Disco_Volante Wrote:  

snip

Props to him for fighting the good fight. He is/was a terrible commentator though. I'm happy and sad to see him gone.

[Sean]

I'll give a damn about black players in baseball and the dwindling numbers of same on the exact same day I see the push for more white point guards in basketball.

[Mentavious]

The tigers pitching is abysmal.

If it's not the starters then it's the bullpen.

[Chunnel]

Arrieta throws first No-no of the year.

As an Orioles fan, I die a little inside every time he takes the mound and dominates.

Box Score

[Only One Man]

(04-21-2016 07:00 AM)Mentavious Wrote:  

The tigers pitching is abysmal.

If it's not the starters then it's the bullpen.

Jordan Zimmerman?

[Only One Man]

Jake Arrieta has had probably the most dominant ~18 start stretch in the history of baseball. Fucking insane.

[Bear Hands]

(04-22-2016 02:16 AM)Only One Man Wrote:  

(04-21-2016 07:00 AM)Mentavious Wrote:  

The tigers pitching is abysmal.

If it's not the starters then it's the bullpen.

Jordan Zimmerman?

Zimmermann is good but he will come down to earth if his years in Washington are any indication. He put on performances like the recent ones while in Washington when he pitched to unfamiliar opponents. Most of the AL Central is not used to him.

[Only One Man]

(04-22-2016 10:51 AM)Bear Hands Wrote:  

(04-22-2016 02:16 AM)Only One Man Wrote:  

(04-21-2016 07:00 AM)Mentavious Wrote:  

The tigers pitching is abysmal.

If it's not the starters then it's the bullpen.

Jordan Zimmerman?

Zimmermann is good but he will come down to earth if his years in Washington are any indication. He put on performances like the recent ones while in Washington when he pitched to unfamiliar opponents. Most of the AL Central is not used to him.

Obviously his start isn't sustainable but he has a career 3.26 ERA. That is near- elite territory if not elite.

[Chunnel]

2 big pitching prospects are getting starts this week:

Jose Berrios and Sean Manaea

Tonight, Jose Berrios goes for the Twins against Cleveland. From Puerto Rico, he's toyed with each minor league level, and has moved through the system fast, like all other Twins top prospects (Buxton, Sano, Kepler, even Kennys Vargas). He's got electric stuff so should be a good addition to a pedestrian Minnesota rotation that can rarely buy a strikeout.

Friday, Sean Manaea of Oakland goes up against Houston. A huge lefty with an extreme side-arm delivery, Manaea was shipped to Oakland last year in the Zobrist trade from Kansas City. He puts up enormous strikeout numbers, and seems to limit his walks effectively. Houston is a good first test for him, being a team that can stack a lineup with right handed bats.

[dark_g]

(04-27-2016 04:25 PM)Chunnel Wrote:  

2 big pitching prospects are getting starts this week:

Jose Berrios and Sean Manaea

Tonight, Jose Berrios goes for the Twins against Cleveland. From Puerto Rico, he's toyed with each minor league level, and has moved through the system fast, like all other Twins top prospects (Buxton, Sano, Kepler, even Kennys Vargas). He's got electric stuff so should be a good addition to a pedestrian Minnesota rotation that can rarely buy a strikeout.

Friday, Sean Manaea of Oakland goes up against Houston. A huge lefty with an extreme side-arm delivery, Manaea was shipped to Oakland last year in the Zobrist trade from Kansas City. He puts up enormous strikeout numbers, and seems to limit his walks effectively. Houston is a good first test for him, being a team that can stack a lineup with right handed bats.

I snatched up Berrios in my fantasy baseball league. I'll try and catch some of the game later. I signed up for MLB TV this season. The only thing I don't like about it is not being able to watch games in your own home market.

[Mentavious]

(04-22-2016 03:45 PM)Only One Man Wrote:  

(04-22-2016 10:51 AM)Bear Hands Wrote:  

(04-22-2016 02:16 AM)Only One Man Wrote:  

(04-21-2016 07:00 AM)Mentavious Wrote:  

The tigers pitching is abysmal.

If it's not the starters then it's the bullpen.

Jordan Zimmerman?

Zimmermann is good but he will come down to earth if his years in Washington are any indication. He put on performances like the recent ones while in Washington when he pitched to unfamiliar opponents. Most of the AL Central is not used to him.

Obviously his start isn't sustainable but he has a career 3.26 ERA. That is near- elite territory if not elite.

It's the national league but yes that's a good ERA nonetheless.

So far he is pitching lights out.

[Sean]

(04-27-2016 06:59 PM)Mentavious Wrote:  

(04-22-2016 03:45 PM)Only One Man Wrote:  

(04-22-2016 10:51 AM)Bear Hands Wrote:  

(04-22-2016 02:16 AM)Only One Man Wrote:  

(04-21-2016 07:00 AM)Mentavious Wrote:  

The tigers pitching is abysmal.

If it's not the starters then it's the bullpen.

Jordan Zimmerman?

Zimmermann is good but he will come down to earth if his years in Washington are any indication. He put on performances like the recent ones while in Washington when he pitched to unfamiliar opponents. Most of the AL Central is not used to him.

Obviously his start isn't sustainable but he has a career 3.26 ERA. That is near- elite territory if not elite.

It's the national league but yes that's a good ERA nonetheless.

So far he is pitching lights out.

That park is going to make his numbers jump. 420 to centre and that massive outfield is a whole lot bigger than Washington. IMHO, he'll come in under 3.00 this year just from starting there 15 times.

[Sean]

(04-27-2016 06:56 PM)dark_g Wrote:  

I signed up for MLB TV this season. The only thing I don't like about it is not being able to watch games in your own home market.

You can on delay, no? Finally, us Canadians get a leg up: we get to catch Jays games live through MLB.TV regardless of location.

[DJ-Matt]

Sling has a new Beta multi stream service that includes the FOX sports channels (Royals with no blackouts!)

http://blog.sling.com/announcements/slin...streams-1/

[Stirfry]

(04-18-2016 12:30 AM)Switch Wrote:  

With how expensive it has become to be a good player due to year round leagues, travel ball, and personal hitting and pitching coaches, many blacks and latinos are simply getting priced out of the game in the USA. This trend is not going to reverse itself any time soon, so expect baseball to become less black and more white/foreign as time goes on.

I agree with this for the most part, and it could explain why basketball is so popular (all you need is a ball- most cities have an abundance of courts everywhere, and even a driveway can work) but it doesn't explain football. Don't kids need lots of expensive equipment? And don't the elite players need private coaching, dietary consultants, exercise routines (and the associated equipment), travel teams, etc.? I think there is something more to it than just cost.

I enjoy baseball precisely because it is cerebral, and more like a chess match than most other sports. Last night's Nats-Cubs game comes to mind as exhibiting strategy- the multiple walks to Harper (even with two men on base!!), attempts at stealing or taking an extra base, pitching changes to take advantage of certain match-ups, and things like that, really excite me, but maybe this aspect of the game tuns people off?

[dark_g]

(05-09-2016 01:30 PM)Stirfry Wrote:  

(04-18-2016 12:30 AM)Switch Wrote:  

With how expensive it has become to be a good player due to year round leagues, travel ball, and personal hitting and pitching coaches, many blacks and latinos are simply getting priced out of the game in the USA. This trend is not going to reverse itself any time soon, so expect baseball to become less black and more white/foreign as time goes on.

I agree with this for the most part, and it could explain why basketball is so popular (all you need is a ball- most cities have an abundance of courts everywhere, and even a driveway can work) but it doesn't explain football. Don't kids need lots of expensive equipment? And don't the elite players need private coaching, dietary consultants, exercise routines (and the associated equipment), travel teams, etc.? I think there is something more to it than just cost.

Most football teams supply the helmets and Shoulder pads. Kids would of course have to spend their own money on Mouthpiece, Cleats and extra padding if they want. I think the cost would be pretty even between football and baseball with baseball being a bit more. A good Mitt can go $100-$200+ easy, Aluminum bat $150-$300 and Wood $75-$100. Of course some of these items could last a few years so it's not like you're paying for these items every season.

[Alsos]

Not a baseball fan, but I happened past a TV yesterday showing the Yankees game.

Both teams were wearing bubble-gum pink uniforms.

I don't know what the players thought about it, but it looked pretty emasculating to me. Is this pinkwashing crap normal now in baseball as well as football?

[Sean]

(05-10-2016 12:29 AM)Alsos Wrote:  

Not a baseball fan, but I happened past a TV yesterday showing the Yankees game.

Both teams were wearing bubble-gum pink uniforms.

I don't know what the players thought about it, but it looked pretty emasculating to me. Is this pinkwashing crap normal now in baseball as well as football?

Mother's Day. They only do this for one game... the NFL does it for the entire month of October.

Relatively, it's like they dress in pink for the equivalent of one possession.