Hodgepodge
A little helter-skelter random thoughts after an off day!
I just saw this link on ESPN about being Commissioner for a day. I have some thoughts.
First off…. the article is headlined by Tim Kurkjian talking about banning the shift. He says he would require two players on the left and right side of the infield, and they would all have to start with their feet on the dirt. With all due respect to Tim, he is great, this is such a bad bad take. I am so sick of people talking about banning the shift. Right now we are seeing the pendulum swing to favor defenses who employ the shift well, but we will see it swing back as hitters are forced to adjust and begin using all fields again. Restricting where players stand on an open field seems crazy to me. The shift opens up all kinds of holes for players to exploit, it’s on the hitters to make an adjustment. I don’t think that the shift is the reason for the increase in homeruns and strikeouts. That comes from pitchers all gassing up to the upper-90s and being nearly impossible to hit. How can you expect to string together 3 hits against guys that throw like
or like…
Jacob deGrom, 99mph Fastball (yanked foul) and 93mph Back Foot Slider (swing/miss), Individual Pitches + Overlay. Unfair. 😳Like… good luck. Best chance is to hope you park it in the bleachers. With the crackdown on sticky stuff and adjustments from the hitters, I believe we will swing it back the other way without nonsense positional requirements.
I think a shortened season is actually not a horrible idea. It’s hard because it throws off the scale for all-time career stats, but 162 games is a long long season. I am a baseball die hard, and it’s just long. It’s a grind, which is part of the appeal, but we could do with something a bit shorter. It’s better for the pitching (seems like Tommy John is just a “when not an if” any more for so many pitchers. Nobody likes seeing the postseason end in games that have chances of snow if I’m being honest. Rain and snow and cold are not good baseball games.
Roboumps for strike zone seem inevitable at this point. I have always loved the human element. I have loved when pitchers really dial in their spot, and make the ump stretch the zone to give them an inch off the plate, but this year seems worse than it’s ever been. I mean, I’m not blaming the umps, it’s hard to see some of this stuff with catchers being elite framers, and the ball literally coming in at 100 mph with movement. It’s time to end all these crazy bad calls though. (this will also help with extra Ks)
END THE STREAMING BLACKOUTS! I loved living in New England for 10 years, but as someone without cable, one of the best things to happen to me was moving away so I could actually watch the freaking Red Sox on MLB dot tv. Like, how does any of this make any sense? MLB and the networks are missing out on unprecedented and unbelievable advertising revenue if they just figured it the heck out.
My brother played in the minors for 7+ years between the Royals and Mets organizations. It’s criminal what these organizations pay their players. It is untenable and taking advantage of players who just have a highly unlikely dream of playing in The Show and will play for peanuts, but that doesn’t make it right.
MOVING ON!
This play was ridiculous
Around the AL EAST:
The Yankees offense didn’t do much against the Angels, but the Angels did less and the bad guys won.
Rays also won, they get the O’s this week for 4. Horrible news.