What an embarrassing mistake bucky

Manfred announced all 30 teams will have the extended netting

Think teams regret not being more aggressive last offseason given this year's FA signings?

Uncle Milty wrote:Think teams regret not being more aggressive last offseason given this year's FA signings?

The cynic in me thinks owners are spending big earlier to stop the collusion narrative in preparation for future CBA negotiations.

That's certainly a possibility.

I also thought we might see more of the Harper contract model - extended years to lower the AAV. Instead owners just extended the years at the higher AAV.

so they're colluding in order to diminish the perception of collusion huh

BigEd76 wrote:All the white jerseys with Nike logos. ugh

I am astonished the Yankees permitted this. If I were them, I wouldn’t have.

I know it will come as no surprise to anyone here, but Ted Williams was a fucking amazing hitter, and almost unbelievably consistent.

He had exactly one season below a 1.000 OPS: .791 in 1959, at age 40. This was also his only season with a BA below .300, at just .254, and SLG below .500, at .419. Given how far below his career norms these were I'm guessing he was hampered by some kind of injury, as he also only played 103 games. (He bounced back the next year, his last season, for a 1.095 OPS.) Had he not lost all of 1943-45 and most of 1952-53 to military service it seems highly likely he would have had 20 straight seasons of 1.000 OPS or higher.

At age 22 and 23 he came in 2nd in MVP voting to two Yankees, Joe DiMaggio and Joe Gordon, respectively, both of whom he beat by over 200 points of OPS and 1.5 bWAR. (Granted Williams was a mediocre left fielder while Joe D. was a good [though perhaps not as good as his reputation] center fielder, and Joe Gordon was an excellent second baseman.) In both seasons he led the majors in all of the following: R, HR, BB, BA, OBP, SLG, and (obviously) OPS.

He had an OBP over .500 twice, and averaged .482 for his career -- the best in MLB history. And this was with relatively few intentional walks; to compare with the modern OBP master, Barry Bonds, he collected a total of just 243 IBBs in his career, vs. 688 for Bonds. (It appears that IBBs were not tabulated prior to 1941 so Williams undoubtedly had a few more in his first couple of seasons, but his highest season was just 33, vs. Bonds' absurd 120.)

bWAR doesn't think much of his defense but he wasn't a huge liability for most of his career, and even in defensive value he was remarkably consistent: he was between -0.9 and 0.0 bWAR from age 20 through 38 (then he fell off a cliff, putting up -2.4, -1.6 and -2.2 bWAR his last three seasons).

Ted Williams, I think, is the quintessential example of somebody ahead of his time. Babe Ruth simply had more talent than anyone else around him, by a mile, and played during an era where modern baseball was still growing in terms of its reach in finding talent, etc. So his raw ability overwhelmed. It was different with Ted. Yes, he had ability, but he also outsmarted and outworked everybody else.

Granted, Ted Williams began his career before integration, so he had that advantage, but he ended long after it. Granted, he played in an AL that was basically the Yankees and a bunch of weak sisters by and large; the Browns and Atheltics were run like it was still the 1910s well into the 1950s, and the Senators weren’t much better, if they were at all better. But that changed toward the end of his career, and he still remained who he was.

I chalk it up to his talent, of course, but also his relentlessly scientific approach to hitting as a craft, and the hard work he put into it. I believe Ted Williams pioneered studying film of himself at bat, to work on his swing, and though he wouldn’t have had the names for them as we have, I will bet he understood a lot more about the “deeper” numbers in baseball than his peers, the ones that today we take for granted.

Basically he was a fucking hitting genius, the Mozart or the Isaac Newton of the whole enterprise.

Rich Hill and his wife were arrested and fined at Saturday's Patriots game after she tried to bring an oversized bag in and he tried to prevent cops from arresting her

BigEd76 wrote:Rich Hill and his wife were arrested and fined at Saturday's Patriots game after she tried to bring an oversized bag in and he tried to prevent cops from arresting her

I don't understand this. Is this just a rich entitled thing or were they under the influence?

BassGuiFloyd wrote:

BigEd76 wrote:Rich Hill and his wife were arrested and fined at Saturday's Patriots game after she tried to bring an oversized bag in and he tried to prevent cops from arresting her

I don't understand this. Is this just a rich entitled thing or were they under the influence?

Can't it be both?

"How dare you I'm RICH HILL!"

Don Larsen passed away in hospice after a battle with esophageal cancer. 90 years old

Looks like Domingo German's suspension for domestic violence a few months ago will be an extended period of time (i.e. more than a month)

BigEd76 wrote:Looks like Domingo German's suspension for domestic violence a few months ago will be an extended period of time (i.e. more than a month)

got an additional 63 games for 81 total.

@JeffPassan
Outfielder/pitcher Oscar Colás, one of the best prospects to emerge from Cuba in years, has defected and will seek a deal with a major league team, sources familiar with his plans tell ESPN. Colás, 21, played in Japan last year and hit .302/.350/.516. He’s a LHP up to 95, too.

Go get him, Klentak.

GrizzledVeteran wrote:

@JeffPassan
Outfielder/pitcher Oscar Colás, one of the best prospects to emerge from Cuba in years, has defected and will seek a deal with a major league team, sources familiar with his plans tell ESPN. Colás, 21, played in Japan last year and hit .302/.350/.516. He’s a LHP up to 95, too.

Go get him, Klentak.

He just listed all the Majestic Clubhouse Store gift cards Middleton gave him for Christmas on LetGo.

heard he has a Coke problem

Made me think of Anthony Gose.