jessecrall

I read it when it came out. Bauer's a fool.

Money Quote: "But I can’t tell you I know Bauer. I spoke with Bauer one time, and I said, 'I’ll never do that again. I’m good. I got my fill for a lifetime.'"

According to Bauer, Cole told him at UCLA that he had no future in baseball. Then again, Bauer had zero friends in high school which is astonishing considering he would have been a star athlete so I think he's just a douche.

There's this great interview clip where a reporter's asking Alex Bregman about Bauer and how they go back and forth on Twitter and Bregman's genial about it until the reporter mentions that he and Bauer are friends or something at which point Bregman's face drops and he goes "We're not friends" and ends the interview. Ballplayers are grown men who can deal with guys they don't like but why expend the prospects required to land a pitcher with exactly 1 great season under his belt if there's any chance he'll give you headaches and hamper your ability to sign additional players?

Cole > Bauer because Cole isn't a giant pain in the ass.

Small sample size alert, natch, but Fletcher's chase rate this year has dropped from 28% to 21% and his contact rate's gone from 91% to 96%. And based on his plate discipline and contact quality, he's been UNLUCKY this year so...I don't think it's crazy for him to end up with an average OPS+ along with his plus defense.

If Ohtani's healthy and hitting anything close to what he did last year, he's starting every day. You can take Bour & Pujols' attitudes about playing time into account when there's a 10 point difference in OPS+ or there are distinct platoon advantages or disadvantages. But when you have someone coming off a season where he was 50% better than the average hitter AND he can run AND he improved significantly against lefties as the season went on AND he puts asses in seats, there's just no way he's sitting unless you want to give him rest for physical preservation.

Bill James ran a simulation in his revised Historical Abstract in which he took peak Babe Ruth and put him in a lineup with 8 deadbeats and had a season where he was pitched to and a season in which he was intentionally walked every single time. The team where Ruth was walked every single time scored more runs. It's just rarely a good percentage play to intentionally walk someone even if Trout's hitting ahead of someone who's scuffling. He'll STILL draw intentional walks anyways but managers aren't operating on the same default that they were 15-20 years ago.

If three men don't reach base ahead of Trout, it's a solo shot. And if Skaggs gets bombed out of the game early and the bullpen doesn't step up, 5 runs might not do it. Trout deserves about $430 million worth of credit for what he does but I think his WAR is generally accurate.

I'm with you on this, mainly because I want a diverse game; not just in terms of where players are from but HOW they play. Watching an endless parade of relievers throwing 98 to .240 power hitters is limiting the game. Baseball has already made adjustments to deal with imbalances via lowered mounds, altered strike zones, humidors, QuestTec...none of this is some grand violation of a pristine pastime.

Seeing Kate Bush live Watching GOODFELLAS for the first time Having Megan Ellison back a dump truck full of money to my door so I can direct an over-budgeted adaptation of Richard Yates' THE EASTER PARADE with Saoirse Ronan

He stays within his game, doesn't try to do too much, that's what gets him into trouble, just trying to go out there, do the interview right and uh, yeah. *Alex Curry beams*

I think he has great interview skills precisely because he regurgitates the same lines over and over again.

Considering a scout last year was quoted as saying Ohtani had a high school bat, I wouldn't bet against him defying expectations once again.

I agree with Ohtani's comment; in the end, he made it abundantly clear that he could adjust to lefties and belonged in the lineup everyday. That's pretty important considering he knew he was only going to have value as a hitter in 2019.