Baseball: The Thread

[MartyS (Gromit)]

Last night not fun...but very typical of the Cubs on the road this year.

What is the deal with that?  Those home / away splits are crazy.  They better try to get home field advantage in the post season or they are going to be in trouble.

[ihavemyreasons]

Cubs have totally blown it over last week. Went from 2 game lead in last wild card spot and only 2 games back from division lead to 3 games back from last wild card and 6 games back in division. Terrible relief pitching all year has really came back to bite them in the ass more then anything else. High paid closer (Kimbrel) picked up midseason has been terrible and blew last 2 games that would have kept them in contention. Maddon definitely gone as manager in another week. Season of blown opportunities.

[MartyS (Gromit)]

Gabe is out as Phillies manager.  Looks like the pitching coach is also gone.  So pretty much all new managing and coaching next year.

Two teams I can't stand, the Dodgers and Braves are done, who could have guessed that? 

[ihavemyreasons]

Madden already got another gig. Was definitely time foe the Cubs to make a change, but always liked Madden so glad he'll be in the American league and won't face the Cubs often.

Why the hell are the Phillies interviewing Dusty Baker? That would be a huge mistake.

[MartyS (Gromit)]

Why the hell are the Phillies interviewing Dusty Baker? That would be a huge mistake.

Phillies management had a press conference last week and it was a mess, so I have no idea what is going on with them.  Seems like the owner wants to control all the decisions about players and using analytics but will still blame the manager if things go wrong, not sure any manager is going to want to work for that team right now.  Hasn't the last 2 years, and the history of every team that has tried to go heavy with analytics proved that you can't build a great team using it?  Analytics works over the long term, wins and losses average out, in other words, it gets you a .500 team, not a 100 win team.   

And WTF, Cardinals can't win one lousy game against the Nats?  So with the teams left playing I now have zero interest in the World Series...

[ihavemyreasons]

Phillies supposedly hiring Joe Giradi as manager and Cubs hiring David Ross.

Both catchers who played for the Cubs (and others).

Giradi would have been too big of a culture change for the Cubs. Madden was a "player's manager" and Giradi is more old school. Great manager, but guessing he'll start butting heads with the Phillies' owner fairly quickly.

Loved Ross as a player, but has zero manager or even coaching experience. There have been a lot of great managers who have gone from players straight to managers, but mixed feelings about the hire

[ihavemyreasons]

Going to be an interesting off season for the Cubs. They've declined options on 4 or 5 relief pitchers and have a couple of others and a starter (Hamels) leaving. Bull pen was terrible, so a rebuild isn't surprising, but they've got a whole hell of a lot of openings to fill.

[MartyS (Gromit)]

Gabe Kapler hired by the Giants.  Hope he learns from his mistakes here with the Phillies and does better out west, he was improving but not fast enough, the expectations were crazy high this year and to end up at .500 was a huge disappointment. 

[MartyS (Gromit)]

Zack Wheeler has signed a 5 year deal with the Phillies, with our luck that probably means by June his arm problems will come back......

[ihavemyreasons]

Only additions for my Cubs so far are reclamation projects that have less than a 50%  chance of ever even getting called up to the major league team. I'm still expecting a trade or two of starting position players for pitching.

[ihavemyreasons]

MLB hands out year long suspensions for Astros manager (non former manager) and assistant for using video to steal signs. Maybe an even bigger punishment for Red Sox manager (also now former manager) for his part in doing same when he was with the Astros and again with the Sox.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/mlb-cheating-scandals-how-should-alex-cora-be-punished-by-the-league-after-losing-job-as-red-sox-manager/amp/

In the NFL, if this were the Patriots it would have resulted in a minor fine and all the evidence being destroyed to save face.

[MartyS (Gromit)]

Phillies are done with Odubel Herrera even after the domestic violence charges were dropped, they still owe him close to $20M.

With his inability to keep his head straight on or off the field I wonder if another team will pick him up?  He can have very hot streaks at the plate, but base running blunders and blunders in the outfield almost negate those streaks.

[ihavemyreasons]

Man...Carlos Beltran out as Mets manager (before he even managed a game) over his role in this whole Astros sign stealing scandal.

[ihavemyreasons]

And the case of the Astros cheating keeps getting bigger. Now there are allegations that players were wearing buzzers underneath their uniforms that were used to signal what pitch was coming while they were at bat.

[MartyS (Gromit)]

First grapefruit league game for the Phillies today.  Nice to hear Larry Anderson on the radio again.