ILBaseball Kickass Media 2018

on postseason second-guessing

https://www.theringer.com/mlb/2018/10/26/18026098/world-series-dave-roberts-pitcher-hitter-matchup-decisions

https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-human-side-of-the-cubs-addison-russell-decision/

rough but powerful read. feels weird referring to it as "kickass media"

wow, that was not what i expected.

In 2002, Luke Hagerty was a first-round pick of the Cubs.

In 2007, the yips chased him out of organized baseball.

In 2019, he's throwing 99 mph.

Baseball has a history of amazing comebacks. At 37 years old, Luke Hagerty could be the best. Story at ESPN: https://t.co/Rn288Ln08R

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) February 1, 2019

Daniel Marks jumps the gun on an all-decade team:

http://www.billjamesonline.com/the_bit-too-soon_2010s_all-decade_team/

I haven't read it, so I don't know if it's good or not--didn't know where else to put it. I skimmed his picks and, as great as Cabrera was mid-decade, he's fallen off so much the last couple of seasons I think I'd go with Votto instead.

Just looking at Votto for the decade: discounting his injury year (2014), he missed by one point of leading the league in OBP every single year. In 2015, Harper's big year, Harper beat him .460 to .459.

the whole analysis, such that it is, is missing defense. the guy keeps talking about gold gloves, to which i always think "yeah, but eric hosmer has gold gloves". and then sure enough, in the 1B section we have the words "I went with Goldschmidt over Eric Hosmer for the best defender at first base, even though Hosmer had 4 Gold Gloves to Goldschmidt’s 3."

Tulowitzki's a lousy pick. He's played 140+ games exactly once this decade (100+ five times), hasn't been a factor since 2015. Even in his short time, Lindor would be a much better pick. (And you can safely project a little there--who do you expect to have a better 2019?)

https://hmmdaily.com/2019/03/07/how-many-major-league-baseball-teams-are-there/

not exactly "kickass media", sorry, but i wasn't sure where else to post it. i agree with the main conclusion (owners have less of an incentive to be competitive because they're ensured financial success no matter how the team plays), but some of the supporting evidence that is presented is more complicated than it seems (the fact that the vast majority of teams didn't try to sign machado/harper doesn't necessarily mean that they aren't trying to win. it might have something to do with the risks of signing any player to 10 years. albert pujols. and the fangraphs projections showing a bunch of teams projected to win between 81-88 games isn't that shocking - an average team wins 81 games, and projections regress to the mean. etc)

It’s big ball chunky time

https://deadspin.com/its-big-ball-chunky-time-1833358434

is that supposed to be sung to the tune of peanut butter jelly time?

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/the-meaning-of-ichiro/

There is a statistical error in that article. When I retire, I will apply for an editor position at Fangraphs.

if you wait another year or so, the entire staff will be working for a MLB team anyway

It has been corrected. ;-)

idk how kickass this is but it reenforces my belief that dipoto is galaxybrain.jpg come to life:

https://deadspin.com/the-mariners-have-chosen-the-way-of-enlightenment-over-1833498457

only partially baseball, but good: https://deadspin.com/the-7-laws-of-vaportecture-stadium-arts-fever-dream-1833445857

Lindbergh on how the opener is changing WAR

https://www.theringer.com/mlb/2019/3/25/18280667/opener-war-warp-ryan-yarbrough-tampa-bay-rays-relief-pitchers

read that earlier and meant to post it to the HOF thread, where there was already some discussion of WAR's mutability. good article

Feel like it's a good time to mention a friend of mine who works as an analyst for an MLB team told me that most of his peers treat WAR as a quaint crowd-sourced metric that is approachable for "civilians". Most teams use home-grown and/or massive subscription service data providers to run their own robust data metrics off of.

update to sam miller's 2017 piece 'is where you drop the bat strategy?'

Folks, I have some huge news. THE THROW HIT THE BAT. https://t.co/j35ieFtgGc

— Sam Miller (@SamMillerBB) March 26, 2019

We've opened up video for >EVERY< pitch since 2018. Here's how you can view them. When you run a search you can click on the players row and see a link on the right with a video icon. Here's a search, click a row and watch a video. Much more to come!https://t.co/BDmbz0nfQw pic.twitter.com/cTgUYC7rkK

— Daren Willman (@darenw) April 4, 2019

niiiice

that seems....insane?

i love how i can look up video of any individual pitch since 2018, but the FBI doesn't know how many people were shot by police since 2018

Yes, I know how early it is. But a couple of Dave Fleming's annual predictions (down to 10 this year) are looking very good:

7. Cody Bellinger will lead the NL in home runs.
8. Josh Donaldson will not bounce back.

http://www.billjamesonline.com/10_bold_predictions_for_2019/

The Billy Hamilton prediction, on the other hand (which seems to be half in jest)...

Bellinger will finish behind Soto, Harper & Yelich in HRs.

so . . . is juan soto a hall of famer

there is a thread you know...

he's in the HoF for teenagers playing in the MLB.

don't be coy, alberto

if he's going to hit that many homers at age 19-20 i would cherish your opinion on his ultimate prospects

Bellinger will finish behind Soto, Harper & Yelich in HRs.

I'd probably agree with the latter two; I think he'll out-homer Soto, though (while having the less impressive season overall).

Arenado will have more as well.

Speed for Two Completely Random HR Trots
Rhys 2019-04-24 / Buxton 2017-08-18#Statcast

Note: speed measurements start 1 second after batted ball contact pic.twitter.com/snLLkgprhq

— Tangotiger (@tangotiger) April 25, 2019

Thanks to the fantastic work of @ee11iott we can now enjoy a race of Rhys v Buxton pic.twitter.com/THiXWcVHB7

— Tangotiger (@tangotiger) April 25, 2019

cross posted to the unconventional stadium dimensions thread:

http://thedataface.com/2019/04/sports/baseballs-irregular-outfields

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/27/sports/baseball/gloves-mitts-mlb.html

this is good but what's with people putting their gloves under the couch?

i remember putting mine between the mattress and box spring

Jenks got a DUI too

― wolves in our wounds (mayor jingleberries), Friday, March 23, 2012 2:37 PM (seven years ago) bookmarkflaglink

2012, man...rough year.

https://www.theplayerstribune.com/en-us/articles/bobby-jenks-baseball-scar-tissue

Wow. Had no idea

this is the most oberlin thing i've ever heard of in my life

https://www.mlb.com/news/featured/oberlin-college-baseball-team-and-the-infield-shift

i appreciate a long, detailed article about a stupid idea that didn't work

ha yes I was anticipating "...and who was that observant fan in attendance that weekend? JOE MADDON."

so someone read skunk in the outfield and did a rub-off (content and reporting aside, which is good)

i love the Flytrap Defense manual

https://i.imgur.com/McTjzar.jpg

(full quality at: https://img.mlbstatic.com/mlb-images/image/upload/mlb/u2lxtcal9vd9zeys772o.pdf)

4. DEFENSE is AMOEBA-LIKE. It will constantly change. There are new names for positions on the field.

jon bois & co doing a 6-episode series on the mariners, part 1 is up

https://youtu.be/6pkVu6Kw00M

i'm still going to enforce dating the general threads properly

blueprints of ebbets field available to peruse at the bottom of this wonderful article: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/27/realestate/a-brooklyn-dodgers-fan-who-never-gave-up-on-ebbets-field.html

ffs ichiro

Breaking down most @mlb base hits on the field by player since 2000. Each name is a 20ft by 20ft zone on the field. Pretty fun group of names. pic.twitter.com/letufYLSY5

— Daren Willman (@darenw) April 20, 2020

I've been making fun of mlb.com the past couple of weeks, but this is actually worth scrolling through: monster HRs pre-Statcast, with a video clip for each one, all the way back to Reggie's HR in the '71 All-Star Game (the ball lands above where the camera stops tracking it).

https://www.mlb.com/news/longest-home-runs-before-statcast

"We've often wondered if McGwire got ahold of a Randy Johnson fastball, how far he could hit it, and I think we just saw it"--love his smile as he's greeted by Canseco at home.

the cecil fielder clip is awesome, and the broadcaster's awesome call, in the moment noting that only 3 had hit it over the tiger stadium roof: harmon killebrew, frank howard, and then cecil fielder in 1990. and that none had done it on the fly, only on a bounce - excellent lore

or at least, the roof in left. now i'm watching the reggie jackson clip (also at tiger stadium), and they're talking about 13 players doing it, so maybe most of them went to right

Reggie's HR is #1 on the list of all the things where I like to brag I was watching--even more than Aaron's 715th or Fisk's Game 6 HR. That was also the game with my favourite example ever of having some power at the top of your lineup: the NL had Mays leading off and Aaron hitting second. (Something that only meant something to me three decades later, when a friend passed on a VHS of the game.)

Sam is back for an episode of EW Pod

now i'm watching the reggie jackson clip (also at tiger stadium), and they're talking about 13 players doing it, so maybe most of them went to right

Yes, that's right.

Since the upper deck was extended to left and right field in 1938, 19 players have cleared the roof a total of 28 times. All but four of those sluggers - Harmon Killebrew in 1962, Frank Howard in 1968, Cecil Fielder in 1990 and Mark McGwire in 1997 - have hit the ball over the closer right-field roof.

https://detroithistorical.pastperfectonline.com/bysearchterm?keyword=Tiger+Stadium

(I saw Cecil Cooper do it in 1983.)

Sad to see that the venerable stats blog Beyond the Box Score was among the recent cuts at SB Nation.

As you may have heard, Beyond the Box Score has shut down. Thank you to everyone who read and contributed to the site over the years. (1/2)

— Beyond the Box Score (@BtBScore) April 19, 2022

https://vinepair.com/articles/major-league-baseball-official-vodka/

Listening to the 10 anniv EWPod finally and i forgot how psychedelic the sam shows could get (sam is my fav)

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/06/19/daniel-bard-made-an-improbable-comeback-then-he-had-to-do-it-again

the new yorker on daniel bard’s battles with the yips

I haven't read this, but I'm going to post it here anyway: just the idea of a mammoth piece in 2023 on the three Alou brothers is inspiring in and of itself.

https://www.mlb.com/news/featured/alou-brothers-formed-mlb-s-first-all-brother-outfield

Headline that promises great things (Athletic): Ranking the 28 Angels who’ve played third since Anthony Rendon signed his $245 million deal.

fangraphs is moving its articles behind a metered paywall (data resources are still free for all)

10 free articles a month pretty generous as far as metering goes. Makes sense to become a member if you are going beyond that limit. Hope it works out for them

Listening to the ESPN radio call on the way home from my sister's and Doug Glanville had a funny line. They were talking about the Mets' second baseman getting released three times this season. The ballplayers' credo, said Glanville: "Release me once, shame on you; release me twice, shame on you."