the pitch clock is counting down to the MLB 2023 REGULAR SEASON THREAD

Prompted by seeing his photo under a headline about the Jays needing a "fearsome power hitter."

https://jaysjournal.com/posts/the-blue-jays-need-to-land-a-fearsome-power-hitter-in-free-agency-this-offseason

I really like him but your point is valid. I just don’t want him to go to the Yankees cos even if he has a patchy season he could do damage with the short porch.

I do think his return might be for real, I don't know that he would get back to hitting 45 plus home runs in a season again but if he can be a guy who will hit around .300 with about 30 home runs a year, in addition to having plus defense and good speed, he could be a real bargain. He's still pretty damn young too, I mean it's not like he just turned 33.

I know how naive this will sound--money, money, money; follow the money, stupid--but I'm also unsure why he'd be in a hurry to leave a situation where he thrived and that turned his career around. Harper was made for Philadelphia; maybe Bellinger was made for Wrigley. (I'm the last person in the world who still seems surprised when players don't seem to care much about that factor.)

I mean, I assume the Cubs will make some kind of offer, and that it'll be for a lot of money.

I ain't holding my breath but I'd definitely love for the cubs to find a way to keep him. It's not like that team is overflowing with offensive talent otherwise.

Supposedly his great year has been in part due to working with the Cubs hitting coach so hopefully that encourages him to stay.

From the Athletic article about Pitchcom:

PitchCom has four modes, each essentially a playlist offering between 18 and 27 signals, but the most basic setup is this: there are nine buttons arranged in a three-by-three grid. Each button can give two different signals. Press 1, and it might signal “fastball.” Press and hold 1, and it might signal “inside.” Through various combinations of presses and buttons, catchers can signal pitch type and location, call a pickoff play, or simply send a message. Once Hedges got some press, others followed suit. Other teams asked Hankins for their own “F— yeah” track. That was an interesting ask for the voice-over guy. (That track is now available in the library.) One team requested something to the effect of: Throw it over the plate, you (expletive).”

This spring, the Red Sox pranked one of their pitchers by customizing PitchCom to make every button say: Are you mad?

lollllllll

throw it over the plate, you fuck!

Throw it over the plate you cunt :)

A common request Hankins has heard — mostly from fans, but sometimes from teams — is to have a more authoritative voice for PitchCom’s standard tracks. He gets tweets about James Earl Jones a lot. (That one’s not in the budget.) A couple teams tried a voice changer, but in action it always sounded a little off. The Giants had minor league coach Craig Albernaz, who has a thick Boston accent, voice their PitchCom tracks for spring training. “SLYDAH, SLYDAH, BACKFOOT,” catcher Blake Sabol told MLB.com, mimicking Albernaz. “When I was getting quizzed by my fiancée, she was like, ‘Did you change the accent on this thing?’ And I was like, ‘No, that’s my catching coach.’” The Giants switched to Fernando Perez, their director of video coaching, for the regular season so they’d have the same voice for English and Spanish tracks.

fitting that the article started out with scherzer, at one point he had to call time and looked totally lost because he couldn't hear his pitchcom.

News: MLB competition committee approves changes for the 2024 season including:
-18 sec clock with runners on
-4 mound visits, down from 5
-If a P starts to warm up before an inning, he must face at least one hitter.
-The runner’s lane to first has been widened to the inf grass

— Jesse Rogers (@JesseRogersESPN) December 21, 2023