NL CENTRAL PREDICTATRON 2019

"pretty sure this is the first time since jason thompson circa 1982-85 that the pirates' best hitter is their first baseman"

Bell starting to hit like he looks. He's built like Frank Thomas, football player build.

Pirates have had a lot of formerly serviceable guys at the end of their careers playing first who are most known for playing with other teams.

The move Brewers fans have been dreading. Hiura goes back down to make room for Travis Shaw’s return from IL. https://t.co/L7ciO1hak2

— Adam McCalvy (@AdamMcCalvy) June 3, 2019

seems like a dumb move

idk. i mean shaw did hit 30 homers the last two seasons, but he also did not look cured in his triple-a stint

tough all around when every team needs 15 relievers

I am sure he'll be back fairly soon but yeah, pretty disappointing. he looks big-league ready.

I'm pretty sure the longterm solution is gonna be DFA'ing Aguilar - he's actually been *worse* than Shaw, and I think his prior success is a bit more flukey. Plus, we already have Eric Thames...you can always use middle infielders, while bad 1B/DH guys do nothing but clog up the roster

Moustakas just broke his finger so Hiura will probably be coming back in a day or two.

Cardinals first round draft pick UK pitcher Zach Thompson is from the county in Indiana where I grew up. Jeremy Hazelbaker who had one season as a utility guy for the Cardinals also wen to the same small county high school. I'm sure there are going to be a few less Reds fans growing up in the area and a few more Cardinal (sic) fans. Not like it is a big push to follow the Cubs or something else than the Reds these days in Indiana.

Unfortunately, he is Zack with a K, and for that reason alone, i don't like the cut of his jib

so you have also bounced Britton from the brotherhood?

lol, watch the first part (the fielding segment) of this video of the guy the cardinals drafted in the second round yesterday:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5c4v_sSfQU

mmmmm

Today @baseballpro, how #Rays Austin Meadows has fulfilled the potential that always lurked in his bat, becoming one of baseball’s best hitters. It’s a story of approach and mechanics, and of the #Pirates looking awfully silly again. https://t.co/b1BKvUnYgf

— Matthew Trueblood (@MATrueblood) June 5, 2019

all three pirates color guys have now said stupid shit that drew national attention just in the last month. i think only steve blass was obviously racist, so maybe that's a minor victory

craig "dumbass" kimbrel signs 3-year, $43M deal with Cubs

what was he originally asking for?

5+ years, triple digits, I believe

triple abbreviated digits

The New York Daily News reports:

President Donald Trump’s acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney along with other Republican Party bigwigs are hosting a campaign retreat for donors in Chicago this weekend where guests will be feted with a Wrigley Field reception in a “Friends and Family” suite including a Cubs-Cardinals rivalry game, according to a published report.

Cubs co-owner Todd Ricketts is a host of the invitation-only event. Ricketts also is finance chair of the Trump Victory Committee, which is a joint fundraising venture of the president’s re-election campaign and the Republican National Committee.

gross.

all three pirates color guys have now said stupid shit that drew national attention just in the last month. i think only steve blass was obviously racist, so maybe that's a minor victory

― mookieproof, Wednesday, June 5, 2019 2:39 PM (two days ago)

I guess Blass would bust a blood vessel if he was a barves broadcaster — they're having an Ozzie Albies palm-tree necklace giveaway night.

it's his last year, at least. and few of us know what it's like to have a disease named after one's self

he's literally been involved with the pirates for almost 60 years; i guess he must have secretly hated dave parker and the we are family team

I think some people on TV just chatter their way into trouble by not thinking about what they are saying and then trying to save face that they are not an idiot, when it is obvious at least in this case they were.

I find myself rooting for the Cards this weekend as the Cubs need to go die as long as the Rickettses are around

reds are 111 runs better than the pirates. and a game behind them

pirates also have a worse run differential than the marlins

Mike Moustakas has 20 home runs already

pirates: last place in the division, worst run differential in the league, worst team ERA in the league, second-worst home attendance in the league

also their biggest trade acquisition in forever, chris archer, has a 5.73 ERA and -0.2 bWAR. it's gonna be hilarious when they decline the 2020-2021 team options on him

Archers performance isn’t even the worst part of it!

at least meadows and glasgow have had minor injuries that will *probably* keep them from winning major awards

brian reynolds looks ok??

Meadows looks right back on track. Not sure about awards tho (all star yes, maybe silver slugger).

There is plenty of season left for this number to get back to what you usually might see, but the Reds Pythagorean record on Baseball Reference is right now pretty wacky.

Pythagorean (37-31)
Actual (30-38)

cardinals call up rangel ravelo, who has hit .301 in 838 minor league games over 10 seasons

sounds like he's just about ready.

Moves: OF Tyrone Taylor will begin a minor league rehab assignment tonight with the AZL Brewers Gold.

INF Brett Lawrie has been released.

— Brewers Player Dev (@BrewersPD) June 18, 2019

Marty Brennamen was pretty fun today driving home listening to the Reds comeback. You could tell he was pretty disgusted like 'yep the Reds are going to lose again' especially after Barnhart and Votto striking out on seven pitches was going to strand the opening double by Peraza.

Then you had the couple singles by Senzel and Winker and the game was over with the game won. Marty seemed genuinely surprised by the turnabout and was actually laughing.

Reds sweeping the Astros is also par for the course for this oddball club.

i too am open to adding a controllable hitter

The @Reds, who rank 3rd in @MLB in team ERA, have the ingredients for a second-half run at a playoff spot, as one NL Central observer said to me this week. The Reds’ front office is open to adding a controllable hitter at the deadline, source says. @MLBNetwork

— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) June 20, 2019

NL CENTRAL RUN DIFFERENTIALS

Cubs: +63
Reds: +41
Cards: +12
Brewers: +6
Pirates: -77

The Matrix (1999)#BornToBaseball pic.twitter.com/jRvrDjSG0W

— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) June 21, 2019

This was a pretty fun play from last night. It looked like Cain was taking a weird angle to go get the ball but he played the carom perfect and what a throw which led to the ugliest slide that actually worked you might see all year. Jesse Winker runs like a dad playing softball.

I'd think having a game where you get hit by a pitch three times in the same game is probably more rare than hitting three home runs in game, Derek Dietrich has accomplished both this season.

this is by far the most interesting division race in baseball

brewers, cubs, or cardinals could all be in 1st by this evening, depending on how the games go, and the reds are going to be a part of that race soon, especially if they are trade deadline buyers.

Make that 6 HBPs in a 3 game series so far for Derek Dietrich, which I guess is some sort of record.
I guess the Brewers don't like the swag.

no judgements, bc i'm sure divorcing your spouse when you've been married for more than a decade and have kids is tough, but it still seems weird to me that zobrist is apparently missing almost the entire season

it's really strange, i just wonder if there's something really fucked up happening there.

makes me wonder if he's going to come back at all, dude is 38. would be a sad way to leave the game though.

yes but he nearly had a 4 WAR season last year, dude is aging pretty well. his power is way down this year but he's barely played so who knows. this situation is indeed very odd...baseball players barely take a game off for the birth of their own children

i can barely send an email when my spouse is really mad at me, i can understand not being able to concentrate on a slider when going through a messy divorce.

but yeah, it is true that players don't tend to take off much time for such things

Whoa, knowing nothing about this (and I know it's 2019 and all) but I was reading up and was not prepared for HER being the cheater... That's a huge buck of the old MLB stereotype.

Oh man, she is a Xtian singer and he used her music exclusively for his walkup music...

Oh and they were big Megachurch personalities as well... ugh.