MLB (Non-Phils) News and Notes 2016

[mdougherty12]

Jackie Bradley Jr. is working on a 24 game hitting streak for Boston. He's up to 159 PA in 2016 with a .338/.390/.607 line, following a 2015 2nd half of 220 PA of .267/.352/.539 performance. Huge turnaround from his brutal 2014.

Domonic Brown, June of 2013. For one month, he was the player we thought he would be. Who knows. Red Sox fans have been waiting for Bradley to break out since 2013. Perhaps Bradley is one of those players in the Jose Bautista, Marlon Byrd, Brandon Moss, Chris Davis mold who takes a few seasons and a lot of at bats to finally put it together and the Red Sox will deserve credit for showing patience with him which is now being rewarded (all of those other guys played for multiple organizations first). Or, maybe he's just having a good month. We shall see.

He's not going to keep hitting .338, but he's got ~400 PA of of .250 ISO hitting for the last 2 seasons. That's more than a good month.

Sent from my XT1053 using Tapatalk

[allentown]

It warms my heart to see the commish finally, and rather aggressively at that, investigating the Red Sox for cheating during this season's international signing period. They made ample use of the loophole to blowout their allocation during the prior international season and had their bonuses limited to $300K. Yet, they signed two top-20-ranked talents, who surely cost $300K (not saying the rankings of these 16-year old necessarily correlates strongly with how well they perform in MLB, but it certainly correlates well with bonus received). The allegedly signed multiple players from the same trainer, so that part of the over $300K bonus could be disguised as bonuses paid to minor talents. I hope they suffer a stiff penalty. The whole MLB system on international signings is rotten to the core. It was built to benefit the Yankees, Boston, and Dodger, yet they cannot even bring themselves to abide by rules crafted to favor them.

edit: Oops! This is from yesterday's online Baseball America.

baseballamerica.com/internat ... -signings/

[Philsmania]

Pitching-strapped Angels sign Tim Lincecum.

mlbtraderumors.com/2016/05/tim-lincecum-passes-physical-deal-with-angels-complete.html

[andyb]

More on the Nats/Orioles TV dispute:
washingtonpost.com/news/spo ... d=sm_tw_ps

Looks like the Orioles want to pay $35 million a year and MLB says it should be $55-$60 million. The Nats wanted much more than that earlier.

They also announced that they restructured Werth's deal to defer $10 million from this year into 2018. I wonder if they think they will get the extra $20-$25 million from the Orioles by then (maybe for several seasons) and need the restructuring this year to remain profitable.

[Lawman]

I definitely don't like the changes to the intentional walk. Not sure, yet, how I feel about the strike zone.

A smaller strike zone and simulated intentional walks could be on the horizon for Major League Baseball.

According to a report, MLB’s competitive committee agreed to strike zone and intentional walk changes at the owners’ meetings this week.

The committee has reportedly agreed to raise the lower part of the strike zone to the top of the hitter’s knees. As for the new intentional walk rule, a team would be able to simply award an intentional walk to an opposing hitter without any pitches being thrown.

The new reported rules could go into effect as early as 2017

[Philsmania]

I definitely don't like the changes to the intentional walk. Not sure, yet, how I feel about the strike zone.

[quote]A smaller strike zone and simulated intentional walks could be on the horizon for Major League Baseball.

According to a report, MLB’s competitive committee agreed to strike zone and intentional walk changes at the owners’ meetings this week.

The committee has reportedly agreed to raise the lower part of the strike zone to the top of the hitter’s knees. As for the new intentional walk rule, a team would be able to simply award an intentional walk to an opposing hitter without any pitches being thrown.

The new reported rules could go into effect as early as 2017[/quote]

I hate the intentional walk rule changes. As for the strike zone, it probably doesn't matter. The umps are going to call it the way they want to anyway.

[EastFallowfield]

What's the point of the intentional walk bit? It certainly would only save a tiny amount of time only in games that feature one or more.

[Austinfan]

Raising the strike zone above the knee is probably designed to put pressure on Umpires who call "ankle" strikes.
It simply makes it clear than a ball no higher than mid-shin is not a strike by any definition, the low strike umpires will still call 'em when they're near the knee, but it at least keeps low sliders from being called strikes.

Howard wishes they'd have done this five years ago, though it would still require that he actually refrain from swinging at low sliders.

[LoneStarPhan]

Seems to me that a smaller strike zone means more pitches taken, more walks, and longer game times. What am I missing?

[Philsmania]

Seems to me that a smaller strike zone means more pitches taken, more walks, and longer game times. What am I missing?

I'm thinking the Lords of Baseball are concerned with offense overall being on a downward trend here in the post-PED era and they want to do something to buck that trend. Offense sells. Pitching doesn't.

[Austinfan]

Trying to reverse the decline in offense by making low pitches easier to hit.

[LoneStarPhan]

Of course, if the umpires continue to call their own zone and not the rule book strike zone, it really won't matter all that much. I guess the emphasis will cause at least some umps to call more low pitches balls than now. We will see.

[Philsmania]

The Rangers have a deal with Arlington to replace Globe Life Park, a facility that's only its 23rd season at this point. Hard to believe how many teams are already discarding their post-Camden Yards parks. The Rangers, the Braves, the Diamondbacks. Will the Phillies be trolling for a new ballpark in ten years?

mlbtraderumors.com/2016/05/rangers-set-to-announce-plans-for-new-ballpark.html

[LoneStarPhan]

The Rangers have a deal with Arlington to replace Globe Life Park, a facility that's only its 23rd season at this point. Hard to believe how many teams are already discarding their post-Camden Yards parks. The Rangers, the Braves, the Diamondbacks. Will the Phillies be trolling for a new ballpark in ten years?

mlbtraderumors.com/2016/05/rangers-set-to-announce-plans-for-new-ballpark.html

Yes

Arlington worked deal to keep the Rangers. I think a vote is required to approve their share of the costs. Arlington lost out on the Cowboys' headquarters and training facility opening in Frisco this year. The Rrangers park will have sliding roof so games in the heat of summer will be air conditioned.

[andyb]

Of course, if the umpires continue to call their own zone and not the rule book strike zone, it really won't matter all that much. I guess the emphasis will cause at least some umps to call more low pitches balls than now. We will see.

I think this will have some limited impact. Umpires are graded against computer tracking these days and as a consequence there is much less variation in strike zones than one used to see. Any change in definition of the zone accompanied by grades on the umpires should work over time. Might take a full year to change a zone and get umpires to adapt, but it can work. At some point umpires with bad zones get fired or demoted (less bonus play, playoffs, etc.).

[schillingfan]

Seems to me that a smaller strike zone means more pitches taken, more walks, and longer game times. What am I missing?

I'm thinking the Lords of Baseball are concerned with offense overall being on a downward trend here in the post-PED era and they want to do something to buck that trend. Offense sells. Pitching doesn't.

Can't have it both ways. The more offense, the longer the games will take, just by sheer number of batters coming to the plate, not to mention the pitching changes.

Take your pick. Personally the long game times have never bothered me. Making games shorter isn't going to increase interest. The pace of baseball is slow. It just IS. Basketball and hockey are fast paced. Me personally I love the leisurely pace of the game and 3 hours versus 2 1/2 doesn't really matter.

[flyers19rw]

Wondering how posters felt about the Dodgers bringing up Urias and then quickly sending him back down after he was roughed up by the Mets Friday night? If he wasn't ready, why rush a nineteen year old?

[LoneStarPhan]

Wondering how posters felt about the Dodgers bringing up Urias and then quickly sending him back down after he was roughed up by the Mets Friday night? If he wasn't ready, why rush a nineteen year old?

From what I heard on XM radio earlier this week, many expected he was only called up for the one game and would then be returned to the minors. Someone did say that if he pitched lights out, sending him back down might be harder.

[zambonir]

Another phan got me a subscription to Joe Sheehan's newsletter during his friends and family sale, just passing it along as it expires today. The special deal is $9.95 through the end of the World Series, compared to $16.95 for six months. He writes every weekday (in addition to what he does for SI and other places).

Today's column is about the Orioles but here's a brief excerpt on teams who have performed differently than he projected (in either direction).

*Some of these are pretty easy to wave away. The Reds are on pace to have the worst bullpen ever, turning a non-contender into a very bad team and accounting for the gap. The Phillies are already falling back to earth, losing two straight one-run games after starting the year 14-3 in such contests. They've been outscored by nearly a run a game, with a -44 differential in 51 games. The Twins are striking out a few more batters but still have a terrible defense and the worst offense in the AL. They have also seen most of their young players underperform. The Diamondbacks lost A.J. Pollock and had Shelby Miller be a disaster. Once you're in that part of the chart, though, you're at a place where one winning streak or losing streak changes things.
*

joesheehanbaseball.blogspot.com/

paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/websc ... 033cbe3bda

[EastFallowfield]

David Wright's contract isn't half over and he's about in his 'shell of his former self' stage already.

Out for 6-8 weeks before he can resume 'baseball activites' seems to be the best case scenario, they say about his latest setback. It never seems good when your manager is saying "I think (So and So) has a lot of baseball left in him" and that phrasing arose again this week from Terry Collins about Wright.