Around the MLB 2018

[Schad]

True. 2 of them were 1st round picks as well. AA sure loved trading pitching prospects.

You can build a pretty credible 12-man staff out of the pitching prospects he traded.

Yet we still have a cheap starting rotation that is somehow one of the best in baseball (for now anyway). Including 2 younger guys. And a few decent prospects in the minors. And great hitters. And some good defense.

We do; AA was excellent at talent acquisition in the draft, and turned it into a competitive team. But when we face a cash crunch this offseason, we're really going to wish we had more of those MLB-ready pitchers making $500k a year. We have a good team, but a very old team, and soon to be an incredibly expensive team to keep together.

[Sifu]

Hoffman in the prospects all star game. Man he looks beast. We might regret this trade more than Dickey

[The_Hater]

Do you guys think Ortiz can get into the HOF after he adds this season to his resume? His career was nothing special up to this point, but he's absolutely beasting this year. I hate the Red Sox and I hate Ortiz so I hope he doesn't get in (especially since Delgado never got in with almost identical career stats), but he's got the 3 rings and now a second truly elite offensive season under his belt. Will that be enough to sway voters?

I think Ortiz was guaranteed to be in the hall even if he had retired prior to this season. Likely on the first ballot too.

Ignoring the current season, he had already hit the magic 500 HR mark which Delgado didn't. That was guaranteed entry before the PED scandal. He had a higher BA, more RBIs and a higher OPS. Even if Delgado did have better counting stats, the enormous popularity, the 3 rings, 2 post-season MVP's and to many clutch hits on national television to count give Ortiz a profile that Delgado just doesn't have.

I also think he has more than 2 elite offensive seasons under his belt. This will be the 5th time he posts an OPS greater than 1000. Delgado had 2. Frank Thomas went in on his first attempt and Ortiz should too.

[Schad]

Delgado posted 44.3 bWAR in 8657 PAs. Ortiz has posted 53.9 bWAR in 9796 PAs, and counting. It's a not-insubstantial gap between them, and growing.

[The_Hater]

Delgado posted 44.3 bWAR in 8657 PAs. Ortiz has posted 53.9 bWAR in 9796 PAs, and counting. It's a not-insubstantial gap between them, and growing.

Do you think the voters are getting savvy enough to consider something like bWAR? I figure that 90% of them are still looking at the counting stats and the profile/rep of each player.

[Schad]

Delgado posted 44.3 bWAR in 8657 PAs. Ortiz has posted 53.9 bWAR in 9796 PAs, and counting. It's a not-insubstantial gap between them, and growing.

Do you think the voters are getting savvy enough to consider something like bWAR? I figure that 90% of them are still looking at the counting stats and the profile/rep of each player.

There has been a pretty substantial shift in the BBWAA's preferences. They culled a tonne of inactive writers who still had votes, so the percentage of online writers (ie., people who actually know about baseball, rather than the baseball and bathroom tiling columnist for the Grand Butte Tribune-Foghorn) is way up. Still a long way from perfect, but increasingly the votes -- steroid guys aside -- are getting closer to paralleling the actual value of the players.

[The_Hater]

Delgado posted 44.3 bWAR in 8657 PAs. Ortiz has posted 53.9 bWAR in 9796 PAs, and counting. It's a not-insubstantial gap between them, and growing.

Do you think the voters are getting savvy enough to consider something like bWAR? I figure that 90% of them are still looking at the counting stats and the profile/rep of each player.

There has been a pretty substantial shift in the BBWAA's preferences. They culled a tonne of inactive writers who still had votes, so the percentage of online writers (ie., people who actually know about baseball, rather than the baseball and bathroom tiling columnist for the Grand Butte Tribune-Foghorn) is way up. Still a long way from perfect, but increasingly the votes -- steroid guys aside -- are getting closer to paralleling the actual value of the players.

I noticed that Jack Morris was getting close to election in year 15 and his percentage actually went down 6%, which probably never happens to guys over 60%. That right there seems like a shift to a more savvy voter who realized that Morris was overrated. I can remember Dave Perkins talking about having Morris on his ballot because he called Morris the best SP of his era.

[polo007]

MLB Network/WFAN’s Jon Heyman talks to The Jeff Blair Show about why the Toronto Blue Jays would be interested in acquiring Jay Bruce, which teams he expects to sell ahead of August 1st, how the weak free agent market affects the trade market, who the best team in MLB is, and what strategy general manager Ross Atkins may take the next couple of weeks.

http://pmd.fan590.com/audio_on_demand-4/Jon-Heyman-with-Jeff-Blair-jb-20160711-Interview.mp3

[tweet]https://twitter.com/timandsid/status/752632275737731073[/tweet]

[polo007]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/Sportsnet/status/752865212898877441[/tweet]

[JN]

Delgado posted 44.3 bWAR in 8657 PAs. Ortiz has posted 53.9 bWAR in 9796 PAs, and counting. It's a not-insubstantial gap between them, and growing.

Do you think the voters are getting savvy enough to consider something like bWAR? I figure that 90% of them are still looking at the counting stats and the profile/rep of each player.

There has been a pretty substantial shift in the BBWAA's preferences. They culled a tonne of inactive writers who still had votes, so the percentage of online writers (ie., people who actually know about baseball, rather than the baseball and bathroom tiling columnist for the Grand Butte Tribune-Foghorn) is way up. Still a long way from perfect, but increasingly the votes -- steroid guys aside -- are getting closer to paralleling the actual value of the players.

I'll believe the move to more modern day measurements is significant, once (if) Tim Raines gets in the hall of fame.

I am still amazed at the 1987 NL MVP vote where Tim Raines finished 7th in the voting and Tim Wallach (a fellow Expo) finished 4th,

Those watching the Expos in 1987 (Expos fan or alike), knew all of the following:
- Tim Raines was the better player in his career and that season.
- Tim Raines impacted the game more.
- Tim Raines turned the Expos season around when he returned on May 1 and took a team of largely scrubs down to the last week of the season.

Even without modern day statistics back in 1987 (which all pointed to Raines), the old eye test made it clear Raines was better.

But still, In the end the voters creamed themselves to Tim Wallach's 123 RBI's.

[nonc]

Red Sox have played 50 home games and 37 on the road I like their chances of finishing third....

[The_Hater]

But still, In the end the voters creamed themselves to Tim Wallach's 123 RBI's.

The problem in all sports, but I would say especially baseball, is that the voters spend most of their time watching the games of only one team. So no voter outside of Montreal would have the same impression on the Raines/Wallach situation as the one you just outlined.

As I'm sure that you're aware, there was a long period in MLB where RBI's were considered the prime jewel of all statistics. Each RBI represented a high degree of clutch-ness and nobody bothered to look any deeper into it that that. Runs scored have forever been an underappreciated stat. I guess for the same reason that batting average and HR's were considered important and OBP was ignored for decades. Ricky Henderson probably should have won 4-5 MVP's, even if he never stole a single base, but he played in the wrong era.

Tim Raines for the HOF in 2017. It's happening.

[Schad]

I'll believe the move to more modern day measurements is significant, once (if) Tim Raines gets in the hall of fame.

I am still amazed at the 1987 NL MVP vote where Tim Raines finished 7th in the voting and Tim Wallach (a fellow Expo) finished 4th,

Those watching the Expos in 1987 (Expos fan or alike), knew all of the following:
- Tim Raines was the better player in his career and that season.
- Tim Raines impacted the game more.
- Tim Raines turned the Expos season around when he returned on May 1 and took a team of largely scrubs down to the last week of the season.

Even without modern day statistics back in 1987 (which all pointed to Raines), the old eye test made it clear Raines was better.

But still, In the end the voters creamed themselves to Tim Wallach's 123 RBI's.

Mine is Mark Eichhorn's rookie season. Dude threw 157 IP in relief, with an ERA+ of 246. Baseball Reference has him at 7.4 bWAR for that season. Finished third in ROY by a very large distance...finished sixth in Cy (two whole votes!), with third going to a lesser reliever.

[nonc]

Do The Tenors have any idea wtf they just did? They are going to get torn apart in the media, or at least they should. Really embarrassing.

[JN]

One of my life's biggest regrets as a sporting fan was deciding not to go to the Big Owe in Montreal to witness Tony Gwynn 3000th career hit. I lived right on the Ontario / Quebec border at that time on the 401, and was less than an hour from the game. Instead I went golfing . I will probably never have a chance at something like that. At least getting a ticket so easily for such a big moment.

[polo007]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/jessespector/status/753093887833571328[/tweet]

[polo007]

Do The Tenors have any idea wtf they just did? They are going to get torn apart in the media, or at least they should. Really embarrassing.

[tweet]https://twitter.com/TenorsMusic/status/753048885912756224[/tweet]
[tweet]https://twitter.com/RemigioPereira/status/753098272592523264[/tweet]
[tweet]https://twitter.com/RemigioPereira/status/753098272605081600[/tweet]
[tweet]https://twitter.com/RemigioPereira/status/753098452431736832[/tweet]
[tweet]https://twitter.com/RemigioPereira/status/753098753226182656[/tweet]
[tweet]https://twitter.com/RemigioPereira/status/753098826295148545[/tweet]

[polo007]

Hey guys,

You can watch a replay of The Tenors performing the Canadian national anthem at Petco Park prior to the 2016 MLB All-Star Game at the following link:

http://mediadownloads.mlb.com/mlbam/mp4/2016/07/13/924234283/1468373079850/asset_2500K.mp4

[polo007]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/Sportsnet/status/753242288910893056[/tweet]

[polo007]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/BlueJays/status/753250677384744960[/tweet]