Slowhand wrote:I had no idea Lee Elia was still alive. And only 81 years old.

I had to look it up too and was equally surprised. He was (is?) a heavy smoker too I think.

Wolfgang622 wrote:

Slowhand wrote:I had no idea Lee Elia was still alive. And only 81 years old.

I had to look it up too and was equally surprised. He was (is?) a heavy smoker too I think.

He looked like he was in his late 60s in the 80s

Ace Rothstein wrote:

Wolfgang622 wrote:

Slowhand wrote:I had no idea Lee Elia was still alive. And only 81 years old.

I had to look it up too and was equally surprised. He was (is?) a heavy smoker too I think.

He looked like he was in his late 60s in the 80s

Yeah, I remember when he managed the Clearwater Phillies in 1990-1991. My dad and I used to go to those games all the time. Lee would come over and visit with us in the stands from time to time. The guy seemed ancient to me then.

ReadingPhilly wrote:

MoBettle wrote:

ReadingPhilly wrote:Orioles have given up a march/April record 72 homers. The previous high was 50.

...previous Orioles or MLB high?

MLB. They are on pace to allow 400. Record is 258.

That’s wild

MoBettle wrote:

ReadingPhilly wrote:

MoBettle wrote:

ReadingPhilly wrote:Orioles have given up a march/April record 72 homers. The previous high was 50.

...previous Orioles or MLB high?

MLB. They are on pace to allow 400. Record is 258.

That’s wild

Do we play them? I hope that we play them.

Not to crush your dream, but we do not.

Still may be able to homer against them though

Really amusing article on the Athletic about the history of the Red Ass

red ass can also describe a temporary state of mind: a moment of intense rage or a mood. When used this way, the full phrase is often truncated. “He’s got the ass,” Rockies manager Bud Black said. “It means they’re chapped. They’re burning. They’re scalding. You’ve got the red ass. It’s a state of being.

https://theathletic.com/944782/2019/04/ ... of-phrase/

The last time the Indians had a player win the MVP was 1953. The Mets, Dbacks, and Rays have never had a player win it, but among the teams who have it's easily the longest drought. George Brett won it while on the Royals in 1980.

Bill McNeal wrote:Really amusing article on the Athletic about the history of the Red Ass

red ass can also describe a temporary state of mind: a moment of intense rage or a mood. When used this way, the full phrase is often truncated. “He’s got the ass,” Rockies manager Bud Black said. “It means they’re chapped. They’re burning. They’re scalding. You’ve got the red ass. It’s a state of being.

https://theathletic.com/944782/2019/04/ ... of-phrase/

Very, very common when I was in the Army.

"I got the ass". Was a great way to start a conversation.

update on alfaro's historic babip:
since 1900, 3293 major leaguers have 550+ pa's between ages 22 and 27.
of those, alfaro ranks 1st in babip at .408. cobb, at .403 is the only player anywhere close. hornsby is in 3rd place at .379. if we start with 1920, eliminating cobb, but also some deadball years of hornsby and sisler, those two take over 2nd and 3rd place at .401 and .396. numbers 7, 8, and 9 on the list also are hof-ers: ichiro (.369), boggs (.368), and jeter (.367).
the three guys in between are david dahl (.373), tyler naquin (.371) and al wingo (.371). these three are interesting comps, in that they all had between 550 and 700 pa's in that age range, similar to alfaro is at 590, and the first two had bb and k rates that are less extreme versions of alfaro's. these three also become the guys nearest to alfaro if we start at 1925.

another way to look at this which eliminates the regression-to-the-mean issue for hof-players who got 4 times as many pa-s as alfaro in a similar number of seasons, is just to go with the best age-25 full-season babips since 1925.
the top 5 are jeter (396), gehrig (393), abreu (391), han-ram (379), and mantle (378). the story is pretty much the same for ages 24, 26, and 27, though no one reaches jeter's age-25 mark, and there are more pure speed-demons crowding out hof-ers in those other lists

it is just amazing that alfaro''s babip over his first 590 pa's is beating the best single season age 24-27 babip's of any and all players 1925. there are a ridiculous number of hard-hitters and speed freaks in that group. he beats them all. how does he do it? can he sustain it?

phorever wrote:update on alfaro's historic babip:
since 1900, 3293 major leaguers have 550+ pa's between ages 22 and 27.
of those, alfaro ranks 1st in babip at .408. cobb, at .403 is the only player anywhere close. hornsby is in 3rd place at .379. if we start with 1920, eliminating cobb, but also some deadball years of hornsby and sisler, those two take over 2nd and 3rd place at .401 and .396. numbers 7, 8, and 9 on the list also are hof-ers: ichiro (.369), boggs (.368), and jeter (.367).
the three guys in between are david dahl (.373), tyler naquin (.371) and al wingo (.371). these three are interesting comps, in that they all had between 550 and 700 pa's in that age range, similar to alfaro is at 590, and the first two had bb and k rates that are less extreme versions of alfaro's. these three also become the guys nearest to alfaro if we start at 1925.

another way to look at this which eliminates the regression-to-the-mean issue for hof-players who got 4 times as many pa-s as alfaro in a similar number of seasons, is just to go with the best age-25 full-season babips since 1925.
the top 5 are jeter (396), gehrig (393), abreu (391), han-ram (379), and mantle (378). the story is pretty much the same for ages 24, 26, and 27, though no one reaches jeter's age-25 mark, and there are more pure speed-demons crowding out hof-ers in those other lists

it is just amazing that alfaro''s babip over his first 590 pa's is beating the best single season age 24-27 babip's of any and all players 1925. there are a ridiculous number of hard-hitters and speed freaks in that group. he beats them all. how does he do it? can he sustain it?

I believe it's as simple as, he hits the ball really, really hard, when he actually makes contact. Problem is, he doesn't make enough contact.

He was 42nd in average exit velocity in 2018; 50th so far this year. I don't think that explains it, but phorever's homework for this weekend is to test the correlation between exit velocity and BABIP

The Paul O’Neil, but for an out.

https://twitter.com/pelicanbaseball/sta ... 12960?s=21

those uniforms though

Must've had a bunch of fabric leftover after making golf pants.

Bucky wrote:He was 42nd in average exit velocity in 2018; 50th so far this year. I don't think that explains it, but phorever's homework for this weekend is to test the correlation between exit velocity and BABIP

yeah... forgot to mention that i had checked alf's exit velocity numbers and didn't see enough there to explain his sustained babip magic.
at this point i'm starting to think he's some kind of luck vampire. last year santana was his victim. this year maybe it's alterr?

Some stuff about Alfaro I found:

his launch angle is very low, 6.3 degrees which is 21st lowest out of 249.

This is his spray chart (click for bigger):


He seems to hit a lot of balls that fall in front of the outfielders. Which makes sense with his low launch angle. Statcast says his expected batting average is .249 this year though, which suggests he is getting lucky.

Also if you look in left field, he has like a .800 BABIP when he hits it into left field for some reason. That might be where most of the "luck" is happening.

I think the Pirates really f'd themselves by trading Glasnow and Meadows for Archer.

WilliamC wrote:I think the Pirates really f'd themselves by trading Glasnow and Meadows for Archer.

Yes, they did. Trade made no sense from the Pirates' perspective when it happened. Looks even worse now.