Corbin Carroll joins the 25/50 club, Nick Castellanos has himself a day, a damning report on A's leadership, and an All-Star's great impression of a former manager.
Little Lord Fauntleroy gets a bad rap. Sure, he dressed punchably once he came into his inheritance -- but, having been born poor, he was a staunch believer in noblesse oblige, and would be the last to demand the public coffers be raided for his folly!
I want to see a replay that has Castellanos and Williams in split screen. Either the latter got a bad jump or isn’t as fast as advertised as the throw from medium RF foul ground had him by plenty.
I was watching with the volume off while working. Darned 12:30 start times!
With Acuna on deck, if the ball is dropped you figure that the team had better than a 1 in 2 chance of scoring with one out and a runner on third. Treating their BA as real talent level, the odds of Arcia making an out is about 73.5% and Acuna about 66.5%. So the odds of both making outs is around 50%. Then add the odds of a sac fly, wild pitch, error, etc. Then up Arcia’s odds because the infield was in. Then subtract a bit for the likely IBB to Acuna to bring up Albies instead ...
I think that Castellanos made the smart decision, not just the one that worked.
Almost as impressive as running the differential calculus needed to plot the curve of the spinning and twisting foul ball, necessarily affected by precise metrological conditions, together with his route to intersect said curve at the right time and place. :)
Except there’s a 90% chance they lose if he catches the ball. It took a bad jump and a perfect throw to get the runner.
Also your math is a bit off as they’d walk Acuna and face literally anyone else. So maybe 50% they lose in that inning even with error, wild pitch, etc.
There were rumors yesterday that the Mets and Alonso were having extension talks. The Mets quickly issued a "this is private" non-comment. What does this mean? Who knows? But I am glad there is still a decent chance Pete will stick around.
Where has this Mets team been all season? I like what we've been seeing the past month or so, even if this still not a contender.
I'm hoping the privacy thing is a good thing. They don't want to negotiate this in the media, as the Mets will surely be painted as a villain if they go 6 years instead of 10 or what have you. I think we'll wind up in the 8 year/$200M range, coming in the sweet spot between Matt Olson and Freddie Freeman in terms of annual salary.
I'm pleased with the out-of-playoff-contention Mets too. They're actually playing the kids (i.e. Vogelbach is sitting) and seeing what they have to offer. I do hope they (Baty, Alvarez, Vientos) improve their OPS next year - under .300 is pretty grim.
I wonder when they choose between Vientos and Baty. Or neither, and go with Mauricio at third. Only "Baby Met" I am not particularly optimistic about now is Baty.
Good question, I get the feeling Buck doesn't like Vientos for some reason and maybe that's why he got a very short leash earlier in the season. I like the way he's mashing the ball now. It's possible one or both of those are traded, but they still have minor league options so they can punt a decision until after next year at least.
Of course we will first see if Stearns keeps Buck. I think it could go either way, but as much because new bosses like to have their own people as because Buck isn't the right man for the next step.
They seem to have no interest in getting Vientos work at third, so it looks like they are planning on DH or nothing. I'd prefer to see either Vientos or Baty at third because it's really their only position and use Mauricio at second. If they don't commit to one of them as their 2024 3B, it seems like they'll be giving up on them. Vientos may DH, but what's the point of having Baty in AAA now? He has nothing more to prove there.
You never know what some teams will do, but $25M annual salary and 8 years both seem like too much for Alonso. If they offer that, he should sign ASAP.
Dad, you caught a home run ball BAREHANDED, in front of your family! You're supposed to see if you can get it autographed, NOT toss it back onto the field!
Bryce Elder’s supply of smoke and mirrors was running low yesterday. Five walks (zero Ks) and two homers in 3+. Equal number of balls & strikes. ATL was fortunate to only be down 4-0 when he left.
After the pen was nearly perfect - one hit and one walk through the ninth - AJ Minter decided to make Elder feel better. He walked four in the 10th and threw more balls than strikes. Again, fortunate to only give up two.
It sure was nice seeing Jesse Chavez back from his broken leg.
Hard to imagine KC and Milwaukee owners not approving any request from A's to move since they will no doubt all share strategies for finagling public money for their selfish vanity.
Republicans in Wisconsin are fast-tracking a Brewers stadium plan to distract people from them trying to overturn the state supreme court election that did not go their way and threatens the gerrymandered districts that keep them in power. So, our votes won't count, but we'll have baseball.
I tried to watch the Blues Jays and Yankees last night. While the pitch clock has made the game faster time-wise, there still is a lack of action. The two starters combined for 23 strikeouts (helped by Lance Barrett's very generous strike zone). There were long periods when no ball was put in play. One strikeout after another is boring. Is there a cure for this?
The idea by Bill James to set a minimum and then gradually increase the diameter of bat handles - like 0.050" per year for 5 years - seemed to have some merit to me.
Without much of a noticeable difference from one year to the next, within half a decade everyone's bat would necessarily be 4-5 ounces heavier, preventing them from whipping it through the strikezone the way they can now, and forcing them to make more contact if they want to be effective.
(You have to get about halfway down the page to get to suggestion #23. It seems radical on the face of it, but considering that MLB has basically done exactly what James suggested in the beginning of the article already, maybe not?)
Combine that with (I think) Will Carroll's idea of making the ball slightly heavier, thus preventing so much spin from being imparted to it, preventing it form being thrown quite as hard, and suddenly you've got a game with a LOT more balls in play. And without having to tax pitchers' arms more or run any undue risk to anyone.
Way back in pre-history when I was on a little league team I always used a thick handle bat. It gave me better control of the bat and as a result fewer strikeouts.
I was at the Rays game last night where the Rays stuck out 19 (!) Angels and yet still managed to lose 8-3. What a sleeper of a game that drug on and lacked pace. While I love a good pitchers duel, typically those games have pace to them.
Interesting stat - the Rays radio guys were saying this is only the 4th time since the late 1800s that a team has stuck out 19 or more and yet still managed to lose the game, with last nights game being the largest margin of defeat of all those games.
Maybe it’s a Canadian thing? Definitely at hockey games still, but they also used to do it at Blue Jays’ games. Feels like it stopped about six or seven years ago.
Actually, at one point, I feel like they used to hold you until the half inning was over, or there was a pitching change. I could be remembering that wrong though, or possibly just trying to wish it into existence.
Up early today ... Nats win! I’m glad they didn’t Trade Lane Thomas for some hard throwing A-ball reliever with control problems who will never make the Show; he may be benefiting from some incredible luck this year, but he has been a consistent bright spot on a team that really needs them.
PS The Padres were at Coors Field yesterday? Then there must’ve been a huge party at Petco Park that sounded like a baseball game. Surely Bill can’t be wrong. (And yes, I will call him Shirley.)
PPS I will absolutely cop to making some impetuous decisions in my life – moving to Minnesota being merely the latest – but John Fisher makes me look like an absolute piker. As the sage Bugs Bunny observed, “what a maroon.”
I was all for keeping Thomas, as I was for taking your chances with whatever you could get in return for the expiring contract of Candelario. Thomas is still young enough and productive enough, and cheap enough for the Lerners to allow him to stick around, to be the perfect bridge to the outfield of the future, even if that takes another couple of years. He'll get a decent raise in arbitration and have at least a half a season to prove his 3.5 WAR was not a fluke.
I hadn't read how close the A's were to a deal. I wish the owners would do the right thing and block a sale but they never would because they wouldn't want the other owners blocking something they want to do down the road.
And Oakland is a way better market for baseball, with a million A’s fans already.
Even if they bump capacity to 35K, no way they draw 2M in Vegas after the novelty factor wears off, even if somehow the team is good. Going to struggle to draw 1.5M.
I should add I have the somewhat unique perspective here of living in the A’s market, not being an A’s fan so not deeply emotionally vested, and traveling to Vegas a few times a year and liking Vegas but also noticing tourist behaviors and the many anomalies of the city.
Doesn’t make me right but also just not a bitter fan.
Unfortunately they don’t work on the new variants, or mostly don’t work. I know a few people who have had to get blood test’s because the rapids were negative while their symptoms were textbook Covid. Personally I think the money should be sent to NY to handle the ‘migrant’ problem.
What I have read says that home tests are as effective as ever (which is only when you are actually sick) and that the new vaccine is still a good buffer against severe outcomes. But I am still masking and avoiding people since I agree that we don't entirely know for sure how effective anything is.
But I also think we should both fight COVID and help the migrants. Let's take the money from building stadiums! You could do a lot with the cash earmarked to pay for the Bills' new home, as one example.
RSV is running rampant, and it looks exactly like a mild case of COVID. I've had COVID twice, neither case lasting 3 days. I'm almost two weeks into RSV and I'm still not back to 100%.
“As is tradition” I am not sure where but that man has four children and threw the ball back. But the Braves bailed him out and gave the family a signed Matt Olson ball. Kelly Crull should’ve berated him instead. (But the catch was nice)
Every time I have a conversation either in person or online about catching balls at games, I hardly know anyone who has ever gotten one, so the thought that once you get lucky enough, you throw it back, well, I can't see myself doing that.
The closest I've come is a screaming Kevin Mitchell liner into my section. I was more concerned with not getting decapitated than trying to snag the ball.
Back when the Barves played at Fulton County Stadium, I very nearly caught a screaming foul line drive off the bat of Ralph Garr (anybody remember him?). But it was a little too hot to handle and after I stopped it’s momentum with my hand it dropped down behind me and a woman picked it up.
Permission to use "Fabric Fauntleroy" for any imaginable insult going forward?
Little Lord Fauntleroy gets a bad rap. Sure, he dressed punchably once he came into his inheritance -- but, having been born poor, he was a staunch believer in noblesse oblige, and would be the last to demand the public coffers be raided for his folly!
Now where did I leave my comically oversized hook...?
I want to see a replay that has Castellanos and Williams in split screen. Either the latter got a bad jump or isn’t as fast as advertised as the throw from medium RF foul ground had him by plenty.
I was watching with the volume off while working. Darned 12:30 start times!
With Acuna on deck, if the ball is dropped you figure that the team had better than a 1 in 2 chance of scoring with one out and a runner on third. Treating their BA as real talent level, the odds of Arcia making an out is about 73.5% and Acuna about 66.5%. So the odds of both making outs is around 50%. Then add the odds of a sac fly, wild pitch, error, etc. Then up Arcia’s odds because the infield was in. Then subtract a bit for the likely IBB to Acuna to bring up Albies instead ...
I think that Castellanos made the smart decision, not just the one that worked.
I'm just impressed that Nick was able to do all that math in his head in the three seconds it took him to run over there!
Almost as impressive as running the differential calculus needed to plot the curve of the spinning and twisting foul ball, necessarily affected by precise metrological conditions, together with his route to intersect said curve at the right time and place. :)
Except there’s a 90% chance they lose if he catches the ball. It took a bad jump and a perfect throw to get the runner.
Also your math is a bit off as they’d walk Acuna and face literally anyone else. So maybe 50% they lose in that inning even with error, wild pitch, etc.
Indeed. Sometimes your inner voice has really bad ideas.
Minus for bad decision, huge plus for the self-awareness. Kids that age are a trip.
If you didn't give your parents extra gray hairs and a few heart attacks, were you ever really a child?
There were rumors yesterday that the Mets and Alonso were having extension talks. The Mets quickly issued a "this is private" non-comment. What does this mean? Who knows? But I am glad there is still a decent chance Pete will stick around.
Where has this Mets team been all season? I like what we've been seeing the past month or so, even if this still not a contender.
I'm hoping the privacy thing is a good thing. They don't want to negotiate this in the media, as the Mets will surely be painted as a villain if they go 6 years instead of 10 or what have you. I think we'll wind up in the 8 year/$200M range, coming in the sweet spot between Matt Olson and Freddie Freeman in terms of annual salary.
I'm pleased with the out-of-playoff-contention Mets too. They're actually playing the kids (i.e. Vogelbach is sitting) and seeing what they have to offer. I do hope they (Baty, Alvarez, Vientos) improve their OPS next year - under .300 is pretty grim.
I wonder when they choose between Vientos and Baty. Or neither, and go with Mauricio at third. Only "Baby Met" I am not particularly optimistic about now is Baty.
Good question, I get the feeling Buck doesn't like Vientos for some reason and maybe that's why he got a very short leash earlier in the season. I like the way he's mashing the ball now. It's possible one or both of those are traded, but they still have minor league options so they can punt a decision until after next year at least.
Of course we will first see if Stearns keeps Buck. I think it could go either way, but as much because new bosses like to have their own people as because Buck isn't the right man for the next step.
They seem to have no interest in getting Vientos work at third, so it looks like they are planning on DH or nothing. I'd prefer to see either Vientos or Baty at third because it's really their only position and use Mauricio at second. If they don't commit to one of them as their 2024 3B, it seems like they'll be giving up on them. Vientos may DH, but what's the point of having Baty in AAA now? He has nothing more to prove there.
You never know what some teams will do, but $25M annual salary and 8 years both seem like too much for Alonso. If they offer that, he should sign ASAP.
Love these videos of fans catching HR-s with kid in hand. Dad power!
Dad, you caught a home run ball BAREHANDED, in front of your family! You're supposed to see if you can get it autographed, NOT toss it back onto the field!
What a maroon......
Bryce Elder’s supply of smoke and mirrors was running low yesterday. Five walks (zero Ks) and two homers in 3+. Equal number of balls & strikes. ATL was fortunate to only be down 4-0 when he left.
After the pen was nearly perfect - one hit and one walk through the ninth - AJ Minter decided to make Elder feel better. He walked four in the 10th and threw more balls than strikes. Again, fortunate to only give up two.
It sure was nice seeing Jesse Chavez back from his broken leg.
Hard to imagine KC and Milwaukee owners not approving any request from A's to move since they will no doubt all share strategies for finagling public money for their selfish vanity.
Republicans in Wisconsin are fast-tracking a Brewers stadium plan to distract people from them trying to overturn the state supreme court election that did not go their way and threatens the gerrymandered districts that keep them in power. So, our votes won't count, but we'll have baseball.
Beer and circuses
I tried to watch the Blues Jays and Yankees last night. While the pitch clock has made the game faster time-wise, there still is a lack of action. The two starters combined for 23 strikeouts (helped by Lance Barrett's very generous strike zone). There were long periods when no ball was put in play. One strikeout after another is boring. Is there a cure for this?
The idea by Bill James to set a minimum and then gradually increase the diameter of bat handles - like 0.050" per year for 5 years - seemed to have some merit to me.
Without much of a noticeable difference from one year to the next, within half a decade everyone's bat would necessarily be 4-5 ounces heavier, preventing them from whipping it through the strikezone the way they can now, and forcing them to make more contact if they want to be effective.
https://www.billjamesonline.com/the_aesthetic_issues/
(You have to get about halfway down the page to get to suggestion #23. It seems radical on the face of it, but considering that MLB has basically done exactly what James suggested in the beginning of the article already, maybe not?)
Combine that with (I think) Will Carroll's idea of making the ball slightly heavier, thus preventing so much spin from being imparted to it, preventing it form being thrown quite as hard, and suddenly you've got a game with a LOT more balls in play. And without having to tax pitchers' arms more or run any undue risk to anyone.
Way back in pre-history when I was on a little league team I always used a thick handle bat. It gave me better control of the bat and as a result fewer strikeouts.
Nothing could prevent me from striking out in LL.
NOTHING!
Back when I played little league it was a gentlemanly game, and it was considered an insult to the pitcher to get a hit so usually we didn't
I was at the Rays game last night where the Rays stuck out 19 (!) Angels and yet still managed to lose 8-3. What a sleeper of a game that drug on and lacked pace. While I love a good pitchers duel, typically those games have pace to them.
Interesting stat - the Rays radio guys were saying this is only the 4th time since the late 1800s that a team has stuck out 19 or more and yet still managed to lose the game, with last nights game being the largest margin of defeat of all those games.
To lose a game in which you struck out 19 hitters is head shakingly frustrating. I can't imagine how pissed off I would be if I were a Rays fan.
stupid things at the ballpark for $400:
-- throwing HR ball back
-- scoreboard proposal
-- the wave
- Sweet Caroline singalong
- ushers who don’t hold people at the top of the aisle while an at bat is in progress
and my axe!
I never knew this was a thing, though I've seen it at hockey games
Maybe it’s a Canadian thing? Definitely at hockey games still, but they also used to do it at Blue Jays’ games. Feels like it stopped about six or seven years ago.
Actually, at one point, I feel like they used to hold you until the half inning was over, or there was a pitching change. I could be remembering that wrong though, or possibly just trying to wish it into existence.
- Heteronormative kisscams with extra gay panic!
That was a great double bill, although Extra Gay Panic! easily could have headlined. Saw them at side stage when the Woke! tour came to D.C.
You forgot the tomahawk chop.
true. that should be #1 !!!
Up early today ... Nats win! I’m glad they didn’t Trade Lane Thomas for some hard throwing A-ball reliever with control problems who will never make the Show; he may be benefiting from some incredible luck this year, but he has been a consistent bright spot on a team that really needs them.
PS The Padres were at Coors Field yesterday? Then there must’ve been a huge party at Petco Park that sounded like a baseball game. Surely Bill can’t be wrong. (And yes, I will call him Shirley.)
PPS I will absolutely cop to making some impetuous decisions in my life – moving to Minnesota being merely the latest – but John Fisher makes me look like an absolute piker. As the sage Bugs Bunny observed, “what a maroon.”
I was all for keeping Thomas, as I was for taking your chances with whatever you could get in return for the expiring contract of Candelario. Thomas is still young enough and productive enough, and cheap enough for the Lerners to allow him to stick around, to be the perfect bridge to the outfield of the future, even if that takes another couple of years. He'll get a decent raise in arbitration and have at least a half a season to prove his 3.5 WAR was not a fluke.
I hadn't read how close the A's were to a deal. I wish the owners would do the right thing and block a sale but they never would because they wouldn't want the other owners blocking something they want to do down the road.
And Oakland is a way better market for baseball, with a million A’s fans already.
Even if they bump capacity to 35K, no way they draw 2M in Vegas after the novelty factor wears off, even if somehow the team is good. Going to struggle to draw 1.5M.
I should add I have the somewhat unique perspective here of living in the A’s market, not being an A’s fan so not deeply emotionally vested, and traveling to Vegas a few times a year and liking Vegas but also noticing tourist behaviors and the many anomalies of the city.
Doesn’t make me right but also just not a bitter fan.
The Nationals were owned by the 29 other clubs when they relocated. Slightly different consideration when it comes to waiving the relocation fee.
Excellent point.
Sadly, the Brewers-Cardinals score was 8-2 Brewers, not 5-2. Brewers fans may care.
And in the Twins' game, it was Jeffers who was walked, not Moll (who was pitching).
FYSA
https://nypost.com/2023/09/20/biden-administration-orders-600m-in-covid-tests-to-deliver-to-households/
I would be first in line if the first day to order weren't Yom Kippur. Also, I am getting my booster tonight.
Unfortunately they don’t work on the new variants, or mostly don’t work. I know a few people who have had to get blood test’s because the rapids were negative while their symptoms were textbook Covid. Personally I think the money should be sent to NY to handle the ‘migrant’ problem.
What I have read says that home tests are as effective as ever (which is only when you are actually sick) and that the new vaccine is still a good buffer against severe outcomes. But I am still masking and avoiding people since I agree that we don't entirely know for sure how effective anything is.
But I also think we should both fight COVID and help the migrants. Let's take the money from building stadiums! You could do a lot with the cash earmarked to pay for the Bills' new home, as one example.
RSV is running rampant, and it looks exactly like a mild case of COVID. I've had COVID twice, neither case lasting 3 days. I'm almost two weeks into RSV and I'm still not back to 100%.
Ugh. Wish they would let me get the RSV vaccine but it's onl for the older and the youngest.
Yep. I'm hoping to get the Covid shot next week, and will be discussing the RSV with my doctor at my upcoming physical.
“As is tradition” I am not sure where but that man has four children and threw the ball back. But the Braves bailed him out and gave the family a signed Matt Olson ball. Kelly Crull should’ve berated him instead. (But the catch was nice)
Call me old and curmudgeonly, but throwing an opposing home run ball back is dumb as hell.
Every time I have a conversation either in person or online about catching balls at games, I hardly know anyone who has ever gotten one, so the thought that once you get lucky enough, you throw it back, well, I can't see myself doing that.
The closest I've come is a screaming Kevin Mitchell liner into my section. I was more concerned with not getting decapitated than trying to snag the ball.
I am absolutely the person cowering under my seat. There's no way my hands survive it.
Back when the Barves played at Fulton County Stadium, I very nearly caught a screaming foul line drive off the bat of Ralph Garr (anybody remember him?). But it was a little too hot to handle and after I stopped it’s momentum with my hand it dropped down behind me and a woman picked it up.