2012 MLB Thread

[The Buscher]

In all honesty, that ASG was boring as hell...but still, NL > AL. Senior Circuit, motherfuckers! ^_^

[GhostMachine]

In all honesty, that ASG was boring as hell...but still, NL > AL. Senior Circuit, motherfuckers! ^_^

Figured it would be, which is why I didn't watch it.

P.S. The DH is for pussies!

[The Buscher]

Giants fans are prett insufferable. They're flooding the Mets board, pretty much telling them to suck it because their starters did well, etc.

The only one they have a point on is Panda. He played a great game. But they seem to think Cain somehow outperformed Dickey when they both threw shutout baseball, as did the rest of the pitching staff.

Loved the big ovation Dickey got. He was also the most talked about guy during the game by a country mile.

I'll take him starting Game 1 at Citi Field, anyway...

[gunnar hendershow]

Didn't the Melkman, ah fuck it I'm not gonna finish the sentence.

[Toe]

Jays extend Encarnacion for 3 years, $9 mil a year.

[The Buscher]

I'm just about ready to give up on the sport of baseball until they replace umpires with cyborgs. Nobody below the age of 65 actually thinks human error makes the game better.

[gunnar hendershow]

I was at the Orioles-Tigers game today/tonight (13 innings, nearly 5 hours) and the umpire had such a suspect strike zone from directly behind home plate where I was sitting. Balls would clearly go outside the outside edge and be called strikes, then balls would cross the edge of the plate and be called balls. The latter is easy to say "Well they could have been high or low" and I'm sure that was the case multiple times but not every time. All in all it's brutal stuff to watch sometimes. There are technological solutions that won't slow the game down anymore than it already is. I don't see why there's a fight not to implement them.

[Meacon Keaton]

I look at the argument from a pitching perspective. If you're a hitter, you will know 100% that the calls will go your way. It would be a rough time to be a pitcher knowing you absolutely have to put the ball in that box against the best hitters in the world.

Not saying I'm for or against either side, but things aren't as simple/fair as it's being made out. You'd be taking a lot of strategy out of the game.

Edit: that's regarding balls and strikes. I'd be fine with computers determining plays in the field. I'm still on the fence about behind the plate.

[SeanDMan]

The big thing about plays behind the plate is that the strike zone is defined as such:

The top of the strike zone is defined in the official rules as a horizontal line at the midpoint between the top of the batter's shoulders and the top of the uniform pants. The bottom of the strike zone is a line at the hollow beneath the kneecap. The right and left boundaries of the strike zone correspond to the edges of home plate. A pitch that touches the outer boundary of the zone is as much a strike as a pitch that is thrown right down the center. A pitch at which the batter does not swing and which does not pass through the strike zone is called a ball.

This zone is different for every single batter because of their differences in height, limb length, and stance. It also, as a function of a batter being in motion during a pitch, changes as the body of the hitter moves. So it's something that is not easily calculated and since it's mostly goddamn guess work, it's probably best to leave it to a human because at least then the pitcher isn't likely to grab a bat and destroy the human when it doesn't make calls his way.

[Panni]

I have no problem with keeping strike zones the way they are, but 'human error' is just stupid when it comes to balls in play. In what way is getting something wrong better than getting something right?

I also don't think it would take too much time if there's an umpire in a booth watching replays throughout the entire game. Even a challenge system is better than the way it is right now. Yet again it's another example of MLB being stuck in the past.

[Meacon Keaton]

The big thing about plays behind the plate is that the strike zone is defined as such:

The top of the strike zone is defined in the official rules as a horizontal line at the midpoint between the top of the batter's shoulders and the top of the uniform pants. The bottom of the strike zone is a line at the hollow beneath the kneecap. The right and left boundaries of the strike zone correspond to the edges of home plate. A pitch that touches the outer boundary of the zone is as much a strike as a pitch that is thrown right down the center. A pitch at which the batter does not swing and which does not pass through the strike zone is called a ball.

This zone is different for every single batter because of their differences in height, limb length, and stance. It also, as a function of a batter being in motion during a pitch, changes as the body of the hitter moves. So it's something that is not easily calculated and since it's mostly goddamn guess work, it's probably best to leave it to a human because at least then the pitcher isn't likely to grab a bat and destroy the human when it doesn't make calls his way.

Absolutely. I know dick about technology so I didn't even want to touch on how simple/difficult it would be to adjust that for every batter on each team's roster.

[Meacon Keaton]

Why did I double post, Jerome?

[HC]

I'm watching Around the Horn, and Tony Realli just asked whether Bryce Harper or Ozzie Guillen would win in a "Money In the Bank Elimination Chamber Match". Sounds intriguing...

[Ananas]

Bob Nightengale of USA Today on Twitter:

The #RedSox and #Marlins discussing blockbuster: Carl Crawford and prospect to Miami for Hanley Ramirez and Heath Bell.

Please please please let this happen. And include the camera crew from The Franchise so we can watch Hanley Ramirez and Bobby V in the same locker room.

[Meacon Keaton]

They better be some mighty fine prospects. Miami would be stupid to take that right now. Crawford has been the drizzles.

[Toe]

I like the idea or replay being brought in for ball in play and out calls at the bases, with each manager getting challenges like in NFL. Maybe to prevent the game from slowing down any more, limit it to one per team, with a manager getting a second challenge if their first challenge is correct.

[thatshortguy]

1. Challenges could only be issued by the manager if it concerns their team's third out or plays that result in runs scored by the opposition. This allows human error - blue-haired stalwart of the game it is - to remain in a smaller extent.

2. Managers can challenge until they are ruled incorrect. This will force managers to choose wisely if they want to challenge early in the game, which should keep games from extending too much.

3. All challenges will be handled by a crew above the field, with access to the all camera angles as those watching on television. Reviews can take no longer than ten minutes before a ruling must be reached.

This could all be done so simply, it just boggles my mind that it is not the case currently.

[gunnar hendershow]

Hanley really hasn't been great since 2009, for whatever reason. But do the Sox even have a top propsect? Is it Bryce Brentz or Xander Boagerts?

[Maxx]

If they're trading for Hanley Ramirez, then Jose Igelsias is probably involved. If Crawford is going then Kalish isn't involved. Lavarnway is a possibility, but I think the Soc would rather keep him and move Salty down the line.

[thatshortguy]

Ben Sheets - Ben Sheets! - makes a second solid start and the Braves may well find themselves just a half-game back of the Nats, who will be shutting down Strasburg very soon.

Who'da thunk?