The 2023 Baseball Season - Things to Come

Perhaps there need to be a Fan Union limiting ticket and merchandise profits then. Why just accept the gouging of the fans and give it to either the players or the owners?

 

This is like your 8th post regarding the economics of baseball and the "greedy" MLB. You're supposed to leave all your political bullshit out of here. Season hasn't even started yet.

Be better.

 

If it were up to MLB, they'd already have had it when they came out with the platform over 20 years ago. Its amazing that they were that far ahead of every other league when it came to streaming over internet (and still are in some respects).

Its the cable companies and their archaic territorial restrictions that create the asinine blackout rules to begin with... and with the FSN/Bally sports debacle, hopefully its a sign of the times that this era is finally coming to a close.

As other leagues have shown, if you get the TV money pretty evenly distributed amongst all clubs... the economic disparity tends to decrease. I know the NBA still has local TV deals, but they've limited the inequality it creates by having a cap in place.

 

LMJ is an injury risk regardless. He's probably even more likely to have issues with an inconsistent schedule coming out of the bullpen, where he will likely never be able to pitch back to back days, and its not like he's going to dial up his velocity or stuff for shorter stints.

The main problem is that his elbow still needs surgery from the tear he had during the white sox series. He's changed a lot of his approach/pitch selection in regards to this, and was still very effective last year (till the WS). He's never going to be able to pitch a full season... thus if they want to get the maximum value from him, its going to be as a starter that may need more days off in between.

As far as Abreu goes, until we hear that they're actively stretching him out... I'd still pencil him in as part of their elite bullpen with multiple guys who can close, set-up, or bridge.

 

Turns out McCullers is unable to pitch this spring. Stretching out Abreu would give us an additional rotation option and would go a long way toward adding confidence in our depth.

 

I guess I'd just let Whitley sink or swim at this point. Dude's 25 already

 

All the effort to speed the game up, then this. If they are routinely stopping the game mid-inning to check a pitcher, it is going to be really annoying. I wonder if the refocus is because they have reason to believe it is still a big problem?

 

It's only a problem if the wrong teams are better doing what the right teams are doing worse.

 

When they first did the checks, ERA league wide rose by about 0.20 runs per game and had a spin rate drop that explains that level of rise in ERA. I don't think it is as widespread as it was, but I suspect one or a combo of the following three things is driving this:
1) Not refocusing will leads to complancy and the league will revert back to cheating. MLB doesn't want another sign stealing level scandal and have avoided it for the most part so far with sticky stuff.
2) As the Astros have benefitted greatly due to other teams's spin rates dropping and ERAs rising (adjusting for change in ball) without much affect to them team wide, other teams are upset because they think the Astros are still cheating.
3) As more teams have stopped cheating, they are getting upset about the teams that have gotten some of their spin back.

 

Sounds like a great way for an opposing manager to screw with a hot pitcher in a critical situation...come out and talk to the HP ump, do some gesticulating at the mound ("he's touching his hat/sleeve/whatever") and see what the umps do.

 

Did I miss this? I remember a few times during the playoffs where opposing teams and fans made a big deal out of stuff Framber was doing, but has there been widespread accusations that the Astros are routinely using sticky stuff?

 

Not routine. I think it is quite apparent that the Astros spin rates haven't dropped much with the exception of Verlander (and other former Astros like Cole). Either the Astros weren't cheating as much in 2020 and early 2021 as other teams or the checks for sticky stuff didn't affect the Astros ability to use sticky stuff late 2021 and 2022. I'd say it is a possibility other teams think the Astros are still cheating. Whatever the reason, MLB's crackdown on cheating has greatly benefitted the Astros by apparently stopping other teams from cheating.

 

It would be such poetic justice if the Astros were so good at cheating that other teams were getting caught and stopping but Astros continued on.

 

Hopefully they stick to it and don't lose interest in calling in. 20 seconds of adjusting gloves,cups and sleeves also with practice swings after every pitch is sooooo not necessary