Eminor3rd

It's currently the top post in r/baseball on Reddit, to universally negative response. Does that matter? I don't know if it affects ticket sales right now, but that subreddit has 1,600,000 subscribers, all pretty hardcore baseball fans, so that's substantial negative press with a national reach. Whatever effect it may have is worsened on the heels of the embarrassing top story around TLR throwing his own player under the bus. These things DO add up and DO affect sponsorship interest. Exactly ^ What could they possibly benefit from taking this risk?

What an insanely incompetent business decision. What is the upside here? Where are fans asking for this? How is this going to affect anything related to sales or fan loyalty at all? Regardless of how you feel about TLR, taking the risk of exactly this type of blowback for no potential benefit whatsoever is inexplicably moronic.

It's as soon as it makes contact with the glove, provided that contact leads directly to being in control of the ball. So 99% of the time, that's hitting the back of the glove.

I'm not sure what we're talking about.

Wait, do you think my post was made in defense of the front office?

NOTE FROM THE PAST: As I have no doubt this thread will be revived at some point near the end of the baseball season as a part of the time-honored internet tradition of roasting people in hindsight, let the record show that this original post was made on May 1st and refers to a roster that (1) gives regular (and often starting) playing time to all of Leury Garcia, Billy Hamilton, and Jake Lamb, (2) resorted to converting its top prospect, who hadn't played above Single-A, UP the defensive spectrum in order to avoid having to start Nick Williams every single day, (3) has already had to resort to a bullpen day despite the benefit of multiple postponements and suffering only one minor injury to its rotation, and (4) ranks 15th in payroll amidst all of the aforementioned depth-related problems. Thus, while doing your roasting, please keep the context in mind.

You need depth. It will be a miracle if all five guys stay healthy and effective all year -- it just doesn't ever happen in today's game. It's more likely that two or three will go down than none -- and right now you're looking at Reynaldo and Stiever as the next men up. Realistically it's probably Kopech for a couple weeks the first time it happens, but he's gonna run into an innings limit and disappear a la Strasburg if he has to cover for more than one guy. Good teams (Dodgers, Rays) have figured out how to juggle it, whether it's alternating spot starts for veterans at the back end or younger guys sitting in AAA until the call comes. If you're trading prospects with real value, I guess the ideal target is an MLB-ready but not polished guy in the mold of, say, Luis Patino or Brusdar Graterol, who has the stuff to be a late inning reliever if that's what is needed, but you want to develop as a starter long-term. Basically, a couple more Garrett Crochets. Also Rodon and Lynn are FAs at the end of the year, and it's still Lopez/Stiever up to replace them.

Definitely more pitching.

*Eloy's spirit descends from the clouds

Touche lol

lmao Hendriks comes in and throws two pitches, gets a grounder and bellows about it. What a douche

This team is trying SO hard to lose.

Obviously Leury Garcia. Longest tenured player.

That was an inspiring performance. Good for Carlos Rodon for reaching his peak throughout so much adversity.

Heater on the hands right here

lol getting the Livan Hernandez zone

I feel like it's always the play-by-play.

What? That would NEVER happen! ...because it isn't a save situation

I think the chicken souls still have to be in the meat though

I can't believe this thread is only 16 pages

Why wouldn't you put this in the thread that's about this?

I mean I agree this lineup sucks.

That's true, but one could also argue that pitcher x loves the dudes on his team and believes in all of them, and such an argument wouldn't be any more or less likely.

I know -- batting order is what I'm talking about. In the BBTN study, they found an average two win difference across "sabermetrically ideal" and the worst possible batting orders over their thousands of simulations or whatever. Of course, in real life, any single situation that occurs could be game-changing, but I think the point is that since you can't really control who is up in specific situations, over the time the effect regresses toward mean outcomes for all players, and the chief driver of the two win difference is that better players get more ABs in better lineups.

I haven't read the article there, so I'm not saying you're lying, but every article on this that I HAVE read (including the most oft-cited one from Baseball Between the Numbers) concludes the difference to be roughly two wins over the least optimal lineup, not the average one, which is why people pretty much don't worry about it anymore. This article's conclusion is way different than everything I've seen over the years.