What's with the eye roll? I mean, MLB is finally starting to catch up to some of the things every other sport has been doing for a while now and it's a good thing. You don't want to screw up fair/foul calls or out/safe. Expanding it to ball/strike, when isn't unreasonable. The technology exists, why not use it?

Unless you're opposed to getting things correct there really isn't a logical argument against it.

5/11/2016 10:19:48 PM

Quote :

"Kurtis still bringing the hot takes"

In all seriousness, here's a really good article from Rob Neyer on the subject of balls and strikes and the home plate ump. Delves a bit into the pros and cons of an automated zone.

http://www.foxsports.com/mlb/just-a-bit-outside/story/strike-zone-umpires-automation-automatic-computer-hal-questec-091214

5/11/2016 11:11:46 PM

Umps gotta buy groceries too, pal

[Edited on May 12, 2016 at 12:04 AM. Reason : Add like 3 challenges a game. No big deal if a 4 hour game becomes a 5 hour game, fans are lazy]

[Edited on May 12, 2016 at 12:31 AM. Reason : and ^good read]

5/12/2016 12:03:40 AM

Quote :

"Bartolo Colon homerun, even more dramatic"

And the sequels: Thor Parts I & II. Thus says the New York Mets: "We don't need no stinkin' DH"

Quote :

"Mets pitchers have improved to 6-for-13 with two doubles, three homers, seven RBIs and four runs scored during this turn of the rotation. The only weak link the past five days might be the best hitter: former college shortstop Jacob deGrom, who went 0-for-2 against the Dodgers on Tuesday."

[Edited on May 12, 2016 at 1:18 AM. Reason : -]

5/12/2016 12:59:57 AM

There's no reason to think automating the strike zone would make the game slower. As that article points out, the umps tend to err towards extending ABs. You'd also eliminate arguing over balls and strikes. Put it in during the spring training games for a couple of seasons and then roll it into the regular season.

Challenges would be unnecessary, but I guess give them a few per game and be done with it.

The umps down the lines tend to do a pretty good job, but baseball ought to have something like tennis does.

I really don't get the infatuation with keeping in place a system with a 15% error rate.

5/12/2016 1:58:37 AM

I was saying no automated strike zone, just add 3 ball/strike challenges per game per manager. That's what would increase the length of the game.

We gonna have cameras judge fouls in basketball soon too? No refs needed?

[Edited on May 12, 2016 at 2:29 AM. Reason : i get that the strike zone is easier to measure than fouls in bball. but how far do we go.]

5/12/2016 2:29:06 AM

Quote :

"You'd also eliminate arguing over balls and strikes."

There have been several instances where I've yelled at a computer for not doing what I wanted it to. You think players jacked up on the adrenaline of the game wouldn't do the same?

Quote :

"The umps down the lines tend to do a pretty good job, but baseball ought to have something like tennis does."

Or bowling.

5/12/2016 3:32:01 AM

Quote :

"i get that the strike zone is easier to measure than fouls in bball. but how far do we go"

Ummm, as far as we can to make sure we are getting the calls correct without negatively impacting the flow of the game in a substantial game, and since baseball really doesn't have a flow (I know, pitchers get in a rhythm and stuff, but it's not at all like soccer or basketball in terms of continuous activity).

The basketball analogy doesn't really work since so many basketball calls are subjective, and when they can basketball uses technology to review, they added the red light around the backboard, I'm sure if it's feasible to do so they'll immediately implement a system to determine if a guy was behind the 3 point arc to eliminate refs having to watch for that. It's very frustrating when a ref misses a guy's elbow getting hit on a jumper or blows a block/charge, but we aren't dealing with something as straight forward as "did the ball fall within this easily defined three dimensional space."

Tennis is a much better comp, and they've done a great job of utilizing technology to eliminate human error. Gone are the days of McEnroe and Connors bitching at the chair umps, and the game is better for it. Even soccer, which is the only sport that could possibly give baseball a run for its money in terms of being resistant to change has embraced goal line technology. When we're talking about boundary calls, which really is what a strike zone is, we have the capability to be at or near 100% accuracy.

5/12/2016 4:21:32 AM

Kurtis is ready for the future

5/12/2016 10:50:11 AM

I'd rather watch that than a Braves game.

[Edited on May 12, 2016 at 6:20 PM. Reason : Ddfg]

5/12/2016 6:20:31 PM

Does anybody else think the Strasburg extension is a bad contract? 25 million a year for 7 years for a Tommy John guy who has shown limited post surgery durability and has imperfect mechanics is a bad idea, at least in the long term?

I think a 4 year deal might be a good one, but once you start pushing those contracts out to 6 or 7 years you're putting yourself in a potentially bad spot. They also, inexplicably, have a player out clause.

I know he's got truly dominant swing and miss stuff, but this is a guy who has only gone over 200 innings once in his now 7 year career (really more like 6) and is 27 years old right now.

I've never been a big Strasburg believer because of the mechanics, and it just seems like this contract ties the Nats hands a bit for a guy who maybe should be asked to prove that he deserves top tier ace money.

5/14/2016 7:09:33 PM

All long term mega dollar deals for pitchers are risky/not economically sound. This one especially.

5/14/2016 9:22:49 PM

That's what I thought too, I've just heard and read almost nothing about this extension except sort of as a BTW, the Nats gave Strasburg 175 million, so Arieta will be getting more.

Outside of Kershaw I think just about every big money pitching deal has been awful. Kershaw might actually be close to worth the million a start he's getting if anybody is.

5/14/2016 10:09:31 PM

Odor knocked the shit out of Bautista

5/15/2016 7:09:03 PM

5/15/2016 7:55:20 PM

lol

5/15/2016 8:05:52 PM

It's been a delightful day of baseball. Bautista is such a douche.

Odor should probably get about 25 games. Bautista should get a few for his second offense late slide this season.

Everybody knew this was coming at some point this season. It's dumb as shit to hit a guy for a bat flip, but apparently it's required in the unwritten rules. If Joey just take his plunking it's all over. Instead he tries to take out Odor with a dirty slide. Gets up and takes offense at Odor doing the standard middle infielder low throw. Odor pushes him, Joey squares up and gets jacked. Bautista just got beat to the punch. He was balling up his fist when he got cracked.

Baseball players are such entertaining children.

5/15/2016 8:30:16 PM

Apparently all the Odor jerseys at the stadium were sold out except for the XXL's

5/15/2016 8:32:09 PM

I was watching MLB network when this happened. I think Eric Byrnes might be the king of hot takes. Before he started spouting nonsense about Odor/Bautista he was losing his shit over a guy bunting for a hit in the 6th inning of a 1 run game because there hadn't been a hit yet.

5/15/2016 8:38:16 PM

The Cubs have now lost their 3rd series of the year. Each one to a team with a losing record.

5/19/2016 8:31:59 PM

Good lord, Harvey.....

5/19/2016 8:42:14 PM

One of the best plays I've seen in a long time. Hope he's ok...lucky not to have injured his neck.

http://m.mlb.com/video/v719072283/?c_id=mlb

5/21/2016 9:06:59 AM

Generally speaking I think the blue Jays are one of the whiniest, bitchiest teams out there, but Josh Donaldson was 100% right with his comments about pitchers throwing at guys.

We've cleaned up the game to protect players at second base and at home plate, but it's still ok to throw at guys. Every year somebody gets hurt by a HBP. Ryan Vogelsong just got ambulances off this weekend. Usually those are off if unintentional HBP, but it just proves that it's a dangerous play. So, why does MLB keep letting this happen? Every league is trying to make the game safer but MLB still let's this go on.

5/23/2016 5:50:18 PM

Yep. MLB players are encouraged to "police the game".

Garbage

5/23/2016 6:28:40 PM

Yup, then you get the occasional stupid injury during the bench clearing brawls. Usually somebody under a pile. Totally preventable injury that doesn't happen in any other sport. NBA managed to keep players on the bench, no reason baseball can't do the same.

5/23/2016 6:30:22 PM

Rodon:
https://twitter.com/MLBGIFs/status/734454506910552065

5/23/2016 9:36:16 PM

^^Unwritten rules

5/23/2016 9:38:17 PM

I guess I could see that if it wasn't for the fact that the NHL has done so much to put an end to self policing and so many of hockey's "unwritten rules." No sport self policed as much as hockey and they're functioning better than ever.

5/23/2016 11:14:36 PM

Well Donaldson did hit a hr then stare into the dugout. I mean, I wouldn't throw at somebody for that, but you can't act like a dick and be surprised that somebody isnt happy with it.

5/23/2016 11:25:14 PM

It started off with the Twins dugout yapping at him for not running out a ground ball.

Why the hell they said anything to him about that is beyond me. That's kind of like coaching another team's players which is always frowned on. His dugout stare down was a reaction to that, which then led to him getting thrown at twice. The ump at minimum should have warned the pitcher after the first one. He didn't, and the pitcher tried to hit him again.

He's right that this kind of stuff needs to stop. If the umps can't control it then the league nesds to step in and do it.

http://ftw.usatoday.com/2016/05/josh-donaldson-toronto-blue-jays-minnesota-twins-plunking-beanball-mlb-phil-hughes

[Edited on May 24, 2016 at 12:02 AM. Reason : pretty decent run down of the time line and donaldson's quotes]

5/23/2016 11:59:38 PM

Ump tosses Synndergaard immediately after he throws behind Utley. There will be much bitching, but this is what they should do more of. They aren't required to issue a warning, and this was clearly intentional.

I can't wait to hear about how the pitch just got away. Dude hasn't issued a walk in last couple starts while also having 10+ Ks in each and a few already in this start.

5/28/2016 8:43:46 PM

Wow, and Utley goes yard in his next AB.

And just hit a grand slam to put LA up 6-0. If Mets fans didn't hate him more than anybody else in the league already they probably do now.

I guess Thor shouldn't have thrown behind him.

[Edited on May 28, 2016 at 9:30 PM. Reason : Ridiculous]

5/28/2016 9:09:18 PM

Quote :

"Dude hasn't issued a walk in last couple starts while also having 10+ Ks in each and a few already in this start."

This is why I'm surprised they even had Syndergaard do it. Especially after getting back into first place, why do you risk having your only guarunteed winner get tossed? I'm super upset, but not at the ump, I think it was the right call.

But a better call would have been the league appropriately punishing Utley instead of making the players feel like they have to settle it on the field.

5/29/2016 12:29:41 AM

Yeah, I know what you mean, but at the time it was a legal slide. He probably should have had to sit a game but it would have been all but impossible to justify it or to have it happen in the playoffs because the union would have appealed and probably won. Honestly speaking if Tejada doesn't get injured nobody cares at all and there's no new rule. Unfortunately baseball doesn't seem to care about player safety until they're confronted with major injuries. It's probably going to take somebody dying for them to do anything about guys getting thrown at.

I'm actually really glad that the ump didn't issue a warning. They need to step up and handle it immediately when it's clearly intentional as it was in this case. I can't ever remember seeing a warning stop anything. The good news is that it seems unlikely that Synndegard will face any additional punishment. Collins should probably be suspended a couple though, looked like he made contact with the ump on a couple of occasions.

5/29/2016 1:23:00 AM

I wish ESPN would go back to a 2 person booth. Jessica mendoza is actually really good but there just isn't any reason for her and Boone both to be in the booth with Schulman.

5/29/2016 8:11:17 PM

Is there a WAR stat for managers? If there is Dave Roberts has got to be at like negative 5 or 6 already. He's fucking terrible. He has no clue how to use his bullpen and his lineup decisions are a mystery. Catastrophic management of young talent to boot.

5/29/2016 10:59:07 PM

Have to wonder about Collins as well.

5/29/2016 11:06:00 PM

Quote :

"it would have been all but impossible to justify it or to have it happen in the playoffs because the union would have appealed and probably won"

You don't think the player's union would want to protect their own against injury? It was a dirty, intentful slide whether or not there is a rule about it, and that the very least should have been an interference out (and maybe even an ejection) in-game and a bigger penalty post-game. AND stricter player protection in-game would prevent future retribution.

Quote :

"Have to wonder about Collins as well."

In respect to manager WAR? Are you suggesting another manager would be doing better with the current club? Even with Harvey's issues and losing the series this weekend, the Mets are still on track for a 93-win season.

5/30/2016 1:12:26 AM

It was in reference to the amazing bullpen fuck ups by both guys tonight. Collins is fine, he just let his closer get torched in a non save situation which I didn't understand. Roberts is a moron though, he fuck up constantly.

For the most part baseball managers are minimally impactful unless they're egregiously bad. They're by far the least important coach in any sport.

Nah, the players union always helps back suspension challenges. Always, especially if the suspension was for a play that was within the confines of the rules and the player wasn't ejected. It was clearly dirty, but good luck handing down and getting a suspension to stick on that play during the playoffs.

5/30/2016 2:11:17 AM

I would guess you could look at expected wins compared to real totals, but I think you'd need a few years of data to know.. Or individual stats vs team wins?

I wish they would get rid of the save stat anyway, if you need to shut the other team down it shouldn't matter how many you are up, put your best pitcher in and win the game.

5/30/2016 1:08:34 PM

^This. If you have faith in your lineup to score in the bottom of the 9th, I have no problem with the "closer" coming out in the top with the game tied. Collins has done it a couple of times this year and it has worked out for him, including I believe the game Wright won on a walkoff.

5/30/2016 3:48:08 PM

At least you don't have Ned Yost managing your team. He's been great at developing talent and getting the guys to play hard, but his actual game management leaves much to be desired.

I'll be very surprised if we make it back to the playoffs now. It was borderline at the start of the season after all the offseason departures, but ow with Moose done for the year and Gordon on the DL with a broken wrist it will take a miracle.

5/30/2016 5:37:43 PM

Quote :

"They're by far the least important coach in any sport. "

say what, now?

Quote :

"but his actual game management leaves much to be desired. "

What is there to manage? He's an AL manager with the best bullpen in the league. There's almost no decision making necessary. He has a designated hitter and his starting pitcher only has to go 6 innings. I could manage that

5/31/2016 8:12:53 AM

Went to bb&t ballpark in Charlotte for the first time last night. It's nice, but man it's much smaller than I was expecting. I feel like the Bulls park is much bigger and was stunned to see that their capacities were basically identical

[Edited on June 5, 2016 at 11:13 AM. Reason : Df]

6/5/2016 11:09:24 AM

6/8/2016 6:17:05 PM

Kris Bryant had a solid game tonight.

6/27/2016 10:31:45 PM

LOL NUT SHOT

http://m.mlb.com/video/v872364983/chccin-contreras-gets-hit-in-groin-by-foul-tip/?c_id=mlb

6/29/2016 6:34:52 PM

Man the smallest division lead in MLB is 5 games. I know it's only July 1st, but the division races could be a real snoozer this year. Thank God for the wild card.

7/1/2016 8:29:29 PM

Happy Bobby Bonilla Day yall!

7/1/2016 9:34:30 PM

Man besides the Cubs, Giants and Nats the NL is a garbage fire this season. 7 teams 8+ games under 500. Dayum.

7/5/2016 10:59:56 AM