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Around The League Thread

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Kerb Hohl
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Re: Around The League Thread 

Post#461 » by Kerb Hohl » Mon Jun 29, 2015 4:09 pm

El Duderino wrote:
Kerb Hohl wrote:I don't think it's "lack of concentration," it is the fact that he doesn't have a good enough variety of pitches or plus fastball, so the 2nd/3rd time around the order hitters will sit on the right pitch. Looks like he has fixed something revolving around that this year, or at least he's gotten a great bit of luck.


I don't think it was even that. Regardless if it was the first time through the order or the third time, every hitter stepping to the plate knew that about 90 percent of his pitches would either be a straight as an arrow 88-90mph fastball or changeup. No mystery at all.


I'm not sure what the exact problem is/was, but he and Fiers have suffered from the same problem, and they both happen to be heavy changeup/fastball guys that don't have a plus fastball.

League average OPS via time through the lineup:
1st: .678
2nd: .708
3rd: .751

Fiers career:
1st: .663
2nd: .680
3rd: .844

Estrada career:
1st: .638
2nd: .730
3rd: .844

For whatever reason, 2-pitch fastball/changeup guys have this problem. I'm not an MLB hitter, so I don't know why it becomes a lot easier for the hitter the 3rd time around.

This year, Estrada is .578/.695/.659 so he's figured something out. Looking at his PITCHFX, it looks as though he's added a cutter that he throws 6% of the time instead of never. He's cut down on the curveball slightly and the fastball a decent amount (8%) in its stead.

When he's having a bad year, hitters figure him out the 3rd time. He didn't throw the cutter at all last year and he went .738/.777/.942 (those first 2 times around are not great in themselves).
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Re: Around The League Thread 

Post#462 » by coolhandluke121 » Tue Jun 30, 2015 3:42 pm

El Duderino wrote:
coolhandluke121 wrote:I'm probably the only one here who's not at all shocked at Estrada's success.


Why would you think that you are the only one "not at all shocked" that he's having some success with Toronto?



I guess some people were so vocal about how bad he was and so few people ever disagreed that I just assumed everyone hated him. I thought he got a bad rap. I think it's weird how the glass is half full when it comes to some players and half empty when it comes to others. He was a decent pitcher.

I think it qualifies as more than "some" success at this point, although I am sure he will revert to career norms eventually. But if he has a really bad month or something, I hope Toronto fans keep it in perspective and don't turn on him completely.
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Re: Around The League Thread 

Post#463 » by coolhandluke121 » Tue Jun 30, 2015 3:45 pm

Kerb Hohl wrote:
El Duderino wrote:
Kerb Hohl wrote:I don't think it's "lack of concentration," it is the fact that he doesn't have a good enough variety of pitches or plus fastball, so the 2nd/3rd time around the order hitters will sit on the right pitch. Looks like he has fixed something revolving around that this year, or at least he's gotten a great bit of luck.


I don't think it was even that. Regardless if it was the first time through the order or the third time, every hitter stepping to the plate knew that about 90 percent of his pitches would either be a straight as an arrow 88-90mph fastball or changeup. No mystery at all.


I'm not sure what the exact problem is/was, but he and Fiers have suffered from the same problem, and they both happen to be heavy changeup/fastball guys that don't have a plus fastball.

League average OPS via time through the lineup:
1st: .678
2nd: .708
3rd: .751

Fiers career:
1st: .663
2nd: .680
3rd: .844

Estrada career:
1st: .638
2nd: .730
3rd: .844

For whatever reason, 2-pitch fastball/changeup guys have this problem. I'm not an MLB hitter, so I don't know why it becomes a lot easier for the hitter the 3rd time around.

This year, Estrada is .578/.695/.659 so he's figured something out. Looking at his PITCHFX, it looks as though he's added a cutter that he throws 6% of the time instead of never. He's cut down on the curveball slightly and the fastball a decent amount (8%) in its stead.

When he's having a bad year, hitters figure him out the 3rd time. He didn't throw the cutter at all last year and he went .738/.777/.942 (those first 2 times around are not great in themselves).


Thanks for posting this. I was pretty sure the numbers would look something like this, but it's nice to confirm it. Speaks to my point about how I think some teams should use more long relievers and rely less on 1-inning relievers so you can maximize the ability of guys like Estrada and Fiers.
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Re: Around The League Thread 

Post#464 » by El Duderino » Tue Jun 30, 2015 8:17 pm

The thing is though, my guess is that a lot of starting pitchers tend to fare worse the longer they are in games as they get more fatigued and hitters see them for a third time.

That's where the tough balancing act comes in for managers. Knowing when best to pull their starter, while at the same time having to be careful to not burn out their bullpen over the course of a very long 162 game schedule. That''s not an easy thing to do.

A starter can be pitching well and then entering that 6th-7th-8th inning area where the stats say the starter generally fares worse, but it's not an easy call for that manager to just pull the starter based on those stats before he actually gets in some trouble or else you could really tax a bullpen, especially if you have multiple starters with stats saying they fare worse from the 6th inning on/2nd-3rd times through the order.

Plus, for guys like Fiers and Estrada, to put them in long relief, their teams would need better options for the rotation. Estrada for example started out in the pen for Toronto, but their starters struggled so badly that they moved him into the rotation out of necessity. The same was with the Brewers for most of his time here. He simply was one of the best options for the starting rotation, regardless of his struggles the longer he stayed in games and all of the homers he tended to serve up.
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Re: Around The League Thread 

Post#465 » by tski1972 » Thu Jul 2, 2015 8:27 pm

Cards just fired their scouting director.
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Re: Around The League Thread 

Post#466 » by LittleRooster » Fri Jul 3, 2015 2:35 am

tski1972 wrote:Cards just fired their scouting director.


Why? They've done a great job drafting
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Re: Around The League Thread 

Post#467 » by blazza18 » Fri Jul 3, 2015 2:35 am

A's have the 6th best run differential in baseball yet have the 5th worst record. That doesn't make any sense.
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Re: Around The League Thread 

Post#468 » by tski1972 » Fri Jul 3, 2015 3:58 am

LittleRooster wrote:
tski1972 wrote:Cards just fired their scouting director.


Why? They've done a great job drafting


probably something to do with the hacking into the Astros system.
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Re: Around The League Thread 

Post#469 » by jc23 » Tue Jul 21, 2015 6:53 am

OT: Hey all Cubs fan here, i will be attending a game at Miller Park in a few weeks and i was curious if any of you have any recommendations of places to eat either at the ballpark or downtown Milwaukee (not looking for anything too fancy, just good food). I heard AJ Bombers was a good spot. Also plan on checking out the brewery.
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Re: Around The League Thread 

Post#470 » by Kerb Hohl » Tue Jul 21, 2015 4:16 pm

Going back to the discussions on how the Padres were doomed to fail - it's sad seeing them shop around half of these guys they shouldn't have acquired. And for about the 10th time, I can't believe a GM/group could be dumb enough to not look at the platoon splits and give up value to "upgrade" from Yasmani Grandal (.922) to Derek Norris(.678). Somebody give this board a god damn baseball team to run.
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Re: Around The League Thread 

Post#471 » by wichmae » Tue Jul 21, 2015 6:05 pm

jc23 wrote:OT: Hey all Cubs fan here, i will be attending a game at Miller Park in a few weeks and i was curious if any of you have any recommendations of places to eat either at the ballpark or downtown Milwaukee (not looking for anything too fancy, just good food). I heard AJ Bombers was a good spot. Also plan on checking out the brewery.

At the park its good. Just go up to the fan assistance area and ask for the places around the park for food. Otherwise around town there is plenty of food spots. Milwaukee actually is a premier spot for food.
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Re: Around The League Thread 

Post#472 » by Kerb Hohl » Wed Jul 22, 2015 2:02 pm

It's pretty incredible how stupid the Tigers have been since the Miggy trade in a lot of their trades. I normally rag on their stupidity of building a bullpen solely on guys with "closer experience" (hey, Neftali Feliz blew a game last night!) but their trading for pitching based on fluke MLB success has been hilarious.

They gave up a nice offensive SS in Suarez for an old, not that good Simon and dealt away Robbie Ray for a guy that had a 4.35 ERA in the minors (non-PCL) with a 1.5 WHIP in Shane Greene because he was lucky for a month with the Yankees. It's strange that a team that did so many good things to set up that 5-7 year run they had has been this stupid in other ways.

If Price is gone, they might be on track to be the worst team in baseball next year. Offense is still OK, but Miggy and (Victor) Martinez are not getting any younger.
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Re: Around The League Thread 

Post#473 » by neiLz » Sat Jul 25, 2015 12:43 am

Cowherd fired :

http://espn.go.com/espn/story/_/id/13314040/colin-cowherd-no-longer-espn-air-comments-dominican-republic-players

Never liked the guy ever since the john wall comments. glad he is gone.
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Re: Around The League Thread 

Post#474 » by Tfence92 » Sat Jul 25, 2015 6:23 pm

ArodpwnsFavre wrote:Cowherd fired :

http://espn.go.com/espn/story/_/id/13314040/colin-cowherd-no-longer-espn-air-comments-dominican-republic-players

Never liked the guy ever since the john wall comments. glad he is gone.


He's a schmuck who was getting released anyway... good riddance.
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Re: Re: Around The League Thread 

Post#475 » by WeekapaugGroove » Sat Jul 25, 2015 7:27 pm

ArodpwnsFavre wrote:Cowherd fired :

http://espn.go.com/espn/story/_/id/13314040/colin-cowherd-no-longer-espn-air-comments-dominican-republic-players

Never liked the guy ever since the john wall comments. glad he is gone.
yeah cowherd is a tool. It's crazy that guys like him and Bayless stay employed. I guess they must get ratings but I honestly don't know anyone who likes these loud mouth idiots... who's listening to these guys?
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Re: Around The League Thread 

Post#476 » by humanrefutation » Tue Jul 28, 2015 4:50 am

Holy crap the Rockies traded Tulo (and his huge contract) to the Blue Jays. Wow.

Tulo is 30, and is owed 20M through 2019 and 14M in 2020 with a Team Option for 2021.

Looks like they're taking back Jose Reyes as well as a slew of prospects.

Reyes is 32 and is making 22M through 2017 with a Team Option for 2018. Rumors out there have them trying to flip Reyes elsewhere.

Hopefully the Rockies got some excellent prospects here or else I'm not liking this move for them.
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Re: Around The League Thread 

Post#477 » by Tfence92 » Tue Jul 28, 2015 6:16 am

jc23 wrote:OT: Hey all Cubs fan here, i will be attending a game at Miller Park in a few weeks and i was curious if any of you have any recommendations of places to eat either at the ballpark or downtown Milwaukee (not looking for anything too fancy, just good food). I heard AJ Bombers was a good spot. Also plan on checking out the brewery.


I assume you're coming up this weekend for the series, so I shouldn't be too late here.

http://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=1173333#start_here

Very long thread, but if you just read the first few pages (even just the first) you can get a good idea on a bunch of good places to eat in Milwaukee.
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Re: Around The League Thread 

Post#478 » by Kerb Hohl » Thu Aug 6, 2015 4:02 pm

Remember that Harper vs. Trout vs. (didn't they add a 3rd player to this last year?) debate? I wasn't a staunch Harper guy, but there is why those who said "obviously Trout" should wait to call a 21 year old player a finished product (Harper). Just happened across the Harper numbers recently. The MLB, if they can market these guys right, should at least be able to captivate some of the American audience over the next few years.

It's about an even battle now and Harper is 2 years younger.
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Re: Around The League Thread 

Post#479 » by BUCKnation » Thu Aug 6, 2015 7:24 pm

Yeah, I recently noticed Harper's stats. He has been incredible.
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Re: Around The League Thread 

Post#480 » by jc23 » Thu Aug 13, 2015 4:22 am

Tfence92 wrote:
jc23 wrote:OT: Hey all Cubs fan here, i will be attending a game at Miller Park in a few weeks and i was curious if any of you have any recommendations of places to eat either at the ballpark or downtown Milwaukee (not looking for anything too fancy, just good food). I heard AJ Bombers was a good spot. Also plan on checking out the brewery.


I assume you're coming up this weekend for the series, so I shouldn't be too late here.

http://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=1173333#start_here

Very long thread, but if you just read the first few pages (even just the first) you can get a good idea on a bunch of good places to eat in Milwaukee.


wichmae wrote:
jc23 wrote:OT: Hey all Cubs fan here, i will be attending a game at Miller Park in a few weeks and i was curious if any of you have any recommendations of places to eat either at the ballpark or downtown Milwaukee (not looking for anything too fancy, just good food). I heard AJ Bombers was a good spot. Also plan on checking out the brewery.

At the park its good. Just go up to the fan assistance area and ask for the places around the park for food. Otherwise around town there is plenty of food spots. Milwaukee actually is a premier spot for food.


thanks for the info, had a good time, really like your park.
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