2019-2020 MLB Non-Phillies News/Notes Discussion

bkox 2019-07-14 03:36:24 UTC #281

mdougherty12 2019-07-14 03:51:54 UTC #282

Andrew Cashner traded from the Orioles to the Red Sox:

zambonir 2019-07-14 04:48:25 UTC #283

I feel like this is the kind of move the Phillies need to make, and yesterday. Red Sox are obviously better and have higher expectations but both teams are in third place and both teams are the second wild card. O's picking up money (which the Phillies don't need to do) and the two players are both DSL guys

LoneStarPhan 2019-07-14 06:17:26 UTC #284

Lance Lynn would have been a good signing last off season. He signed with the Rangers for 3 years, $30 million. He is 12-4 with 3.69 ERA so far this season. Certainly would look good in Phillies rotation. He is 32 this season so will be back for his age 33 and 34 seasons.

zambonir 2019-07-14 07:03:41 UTC #285

Lynn was pretty average last season though, and given what we are getting out of Arrieta at 33, no thanks. It was not unreasonable to think Pivetta would be better (he put up more WAR last year, so did Eflin). Morton is the other obvious hindsight move they could have made.

But the issue is now. I don't necessarily think they were wrong not to sign a starter. They knew they'd probably have to add someone in July. But the offense and bullpen fell apart even harder. I don't want to give away the farm (an expression we always use that is rarely actually what happens) but it's July 14. It's starting to look like they either need to make a move or two right this minute to keep them afloat for the rest of the month (at which point they could make other moves, or not, depending) or pull the chute.

bkox 2019-07-15 21:52:22 UTC #286

zambonir 2019-07-20 20:42:53 UTC #287

I imagine any further discussion of this will have to go in the politics thread but the article itself is probably of interest to those who never go there (like me). Technically it's even Phillies content! The piece is by Paul Lukas of Uni Watch fame, who just joined Sports Illustrated.

[Mod's note: PAYWALLED - j]

allentown 2019-07-20 21:42:30 UTC #288

I can sort of understand it, but see it as the wrong impulse. Toward the end of the Vietnam War, Nixon's supporters tried to claim the flag as their symbol. The Republicans still want to make the flag a Republican symbol and President Trump wraps it in his arms and drools over it. This is wrong. The flag is the symbol of America and it belongs to all of us. Democrats and progressive should not eschew it just because R conservatives have tried to appropriate it. Baseball fans of all political and religious persuasions have worn baseball hats my entire lifetime. I'm not giving mine up just because President Trump has tried to coopt it. He doesn't own baseball; he doesn't own baseball caps; he doesn't own the American flag; he doesn't have any right to decide who is a real American. Each of us get to do that for ourselves.

BostonRoss 2019-07-21 05:26:43 UTC #289

Wow, and I thought people were giving me funny looks because I’m funny looking!

zambonir 2019-07-21 08:35:17 UTC #290

I've never liked the color tbh. My only shirsey was white (it's very old, Schilling) until this year when I got a grey one. And I mostly have alternate or throwback maroon hats.

philsphan67 2019-07-21 13:26:46 UTC #291

Not sure where this goes, but it was a great tribute to Philly's own Jayson Stark going into the HOF yesterday. I loved reading his Week in Review Sunday columns, I think it started the when I was in high school. Before the internet and I loved the odd stats. Plus he has always seemed like a positive, good guy!

bkeich 2019-07-21 13:52:43 UTC #292

Any award for Baseball writing that Jayson Stark has not received yet is ridiculously overdue. He has been the best and most influential writer of the last 50 years (at least).

Glad to see him going into the HOF, also. Long overdue

zambonir 2019-07-21 16:18:36 UTC #293

I would say behind Gammons, who actually invented the "Sunday notebook" that Stark was also known for (before he took it in his own wacky direction. But Gammons got in a long time ago.

I'd also put Roger Angell (and possibly Thomas Boswell) ahead of Stark. But extremely well-deserved. I've never been to the Hall of Fame and this would have been a nice year to go. I wish I'd been for Harry. I'm figuring to finally go if/when one of our '08 guys makes it.

Still in the Hall of Fame: Bill Conlin.

andyb 2019-07-21 16:47:12 UTC #294

How are Roger Angell and Tom Boswell not in it already? I guess there is a bias for newspaper writers (against Angell). And maybe Boswell was hurt by not having a team for 30 years, but as I recall his books were among the most popular baseball column compilations in the 1980s and 1990s.

zambonir 2019-07-21 17:19:43 UTC #295

Angell is. I just meant he and Gammons (if not Boswell who doesn't seem important today) were more important than Stark in my book (Allan Lewis, who's been in for ages, probably was too. And the disgraced child molester wasn't chopped liver. All Philly guys).

Surprised about Boswell. Part of it is the the award didn't start until 1962 so it took them 30+ years to get all the old-timers in, and then you had another generation in their 60s and 70s getting honored first. I also suspect maybe Boswell isn't chummy with the BBWAA. He was way more famous than most at his peak, and was more of the lofty "columnist" than the revered and romanticized beat guy. In part because he didn't have a team to cover as you note. Like, Paul Hagen is in and that seems the epitome of the type of guy his peers would favor.

(Irrelevant to Boswell's case but I rarely think to read him now, a bit too old-school and doesn't really stand apart from other columnists to me these days.)

bkox 2019-07-25 21:29:09 UTC #296

Troy Tulowitzki announces retirement

xogfog 2019-07-25 23:32:27 UTC #297

A shame he had all the injury issues, I thought he was going to have a HOF career.

andyb 2019-07-26 19:44:07 UTC #298

Dale Murphy on Nick Madrigal who might be nearing a call-up. I admit I am fascinated by his progression. He started the year in A+ ball and was good but not great (272/346/377). 17 SB and a 17/6 BB/K ratio. Since he was promoted to AA though he has been on fire. In 37 games he is at 364/424/483. 13 more SB and a similar 13/5 BB/K ratio. He now has 30 BB and only 11 Ks in 376 PAs. Not a great BB ratio, but a good one for a kid without much power.

If they deaden the balls next year back to where they used to be this kid could be really be good. It will take a decade to figure out if he is better than Bohm (who was my choice last year but it was close between the two), but it will be a fascinating study as they both look on track to be pretty good hitters.

andyb 2019-07-26 20:54:30 UTC #299

Baseball's next strategic innovation that few of us will like: the mid-batter pitching change. It actually makes perfect sense to me that a pitching switch mid-batter would mess up the batter's timing and be a huge advantage to the pitcher. Let the tired pitcher get a strike or two against a batter - then bring in a new pitcher to finish them off.

Prediction - if this takes off we'll very quickly have a new rule saying this can't be done outside of injury. And any pitcher removed for injury in the middle of a batter might have to sit the next game (if they are a reliever) or the next 5 games (if they are a starter).

julio 2019-07-26 21:49:22 UTC #300

Simple. Pitcher can only be removed mid-batter in case of injury - and said injury requires an assignment to the Injured List (which effective next season, will go back to 15 days, per the MLB-MLBPA Agreement announced in March).