God, we are SO bad. 21 out of the last 27 or something like that. Michael Bourn, Hunter Pence, Wandy Rodriguez. That's really it, and Magic Wand is probably being traded. We have a setup man named "Abad" (pitcher, amirite?). We are being completely outclassed talentwise by the Pittsburgh Pirates. Don't give me that tripe about them being better, this is the first time while I've been sentient that they're over .500 this late in the season, they're still the Pirates. Lance Berkman, who we decided not to retain, is a legitimate all star and the savior of the hated Cardinals season. Carlos Lee, the fat tub of lard, has been worthless. The sale of the team is being held off because of the stupid Dodgers and their stupid legal battle. On top of that, Crane says the uniforms/color scheme/logo won't be changed! FJASKLJFKLASJ
2011 MLB Thread
- Thread starter El Justo
- Start date
Rashiminos
Fool Prophet
It's not called a balk as per MLB rules, and therefore would not go into the record as such.
shadowplay
your ad here
Anyone see the game-ending play at the plate in the Toronto @ Boston game tonight? It looked like Varitek's swipe at Encarnacion for the tag missed by quite a bit.
El Justo
Deity
all this talk about replay. how about getting better umpires?
classical_hero
In whom I trust
I would like to see a use of replay that teams get a certain amount of review each game and they lose them if they get it wrong and keep them if they get it right. I doubt it will make the game any slower and thus it will probably show how right the umpires are. Obviously leave the srike/ball to the umpire and only for other things.
Yeah, i feel bad for you guys. I don't see how you can become competent in the next 4 years.
On the plus side (?), maybe you get moved to the AL!
Mariners, Rangers, Angels, A's would be MUCH better
We could actually have a reciprocal rivalry for once in franchise history too.
El Justo
Deity
that's bogus. houston should not move out of the NL. that ain't right. that whole realignment business is for the birds. why can't that knucklehead selig just leave well enough alone? all the gimmicks we have now...and it is gimmickry, all this interleague crap, home field all star game stuff. enough!
Mariners, Rangers, Angels, A's would be MUCH better
We could actually have a reciprocal rivalry for once in franchise history too.
I think I'd rather play those guys, given the depth that Cincinnati has in their minor league system right now, the Cardinals in their prime, Pittsburgh suddenly being relevant (and unlikely to be worse over the next 4 years), and the Cubbies looking to make some big free agent splashes over the next two seasons. Having a real rivalry with Texas would be fun for Houston too...I mean, who do you really consider a rival now?
Moving Houston to AL West just makes a lot of sense, given the scheduling imbalances of the divisions.
El Justo
Deity
call me a purist but i don't buy it. yeah, it may make sense in July 2011. but what about September 2020? or any other date in the future? all things are cyclical and the astros are in the dump right now. switching them to the al is a move of convenience, not one of practicality.
We've had over a century. Unless we start paying them like athletes and publicize their stats, creating the type of competition we see in athletics, there will be no significant improvement. Even then, i doubt we could really get beyond human error. I want to eliminate the 3rd team as much as possible.
I want a NCAA-style replay system, where every play is reviewed by an umpire upstairs immediately after it occurs. In baseball, this could be done w/o adding one second to the game. The man upstairs would simply overrule if the guys on the field were obviously wrong. Unlike the idiotic way the NFL does it that takes forever.
The only problem with applying that to balls and strikes is that if the guy upstairs corrects the count after every pitch, the players would have to listen to the stadium announcer to know the count. Kind of a deal breaker, but once Quest Tec (or whatever the new system is) gets to the point where it is considerably more reliable than the umps; i say turn over balls and strikes to the machines. This could probably be done today, as i assume that the technology is already there, but i doubt it will ever get implemented.
Baseball is uniquely suited to have near-perfect officiating through technology because, to paraphrase Bill James, the hitters all take their turn in order and the fielders all wait in their area for the ball to come to them. There are so few true, NBA style, judgement calls that humans can almost be taken out of the officiating altogether. Then we can only blame our team.
Pretty much just the Cardinals.
El Justo
Deity
i just don't like the idea of diluting the schedule even more than it is. by that i mean that realignment would make division games either less significant or completely insignificant (if they created two leagues, no divisions as some have discussed). i understand the argument of balancing divisions, which is fine. but don't tamper with the already diluted schedule (less division games, crappy interleague games, lack of out-of-division, same league matchups).
computers calling balls and strikes? insanity. human error is there for baseball. some replay might be ok, like for HRs. but no way to balls and strikes. would remove the whole element of the human factor which isn't necessarily the best way to get it right. there's a tenure system w/ umpires and it stinks. they need to be evaluated in a more stringent fashion, have a better feeder system, and far less showmanship than is displayed by some younger umps nowadays. i heard a thing on cowherd the other day where tito francona said that he went out to argue a call one time against this young ump, forget his name atm, but Blue had the balls to say to francona as he approached him, "You know that you're about to argue with the best young umpire in the game?"
i hope he was kidding, may have been a little funny. but francona's take did not indicate any sarcasm. it's this kind of crap that contributes to the lame image that umpires have. this and the blatantly bad call and lack of some kind of contrition (like jim joyce last year, just made a numb-scull call).
computers calling balls and strikes? insanity. human error is there for baseball. some replay might be ok, like for HRs. but no way to balls and strikes. would remove the whole element of the human factor which isn't necessarily the best way to get it right. there's a tenure system w/ umpires and it stinks. they need to be evaluated in a more stringent fashion, have a better feeder system, and far less showmanship than is displayed by some younger umps nowadays. i heard a thing on cowherd the other day where tito francona said that he went out to argue a call one time against this young ump, forget his name atm, but Blue had the balls to say to francona as he approached him, "You know that you're about to argue with the best young umpire in the game?"
i hope he was kidding, may have been a little funny. but francona's take did not indicate any sarcasm. it's this kind of crap that contributes to the lame image that umpires have. this and the blatantly bad call and lack of some kind of contrition (like jim joyce last year, just made a numb-scull call).
Verarde
Pondering Wearing A Hat
The Nats have really self destructed tonight. Livan Hernandez is slowing down, and I think should be released or traded. Get some young, fresh talent in there.
bestrfcplayer
Steppin' up!
Cleveland! Cleveland! Cleveland!!!!!!!!!
sophie
Break My Heart
computers calling balls and strikes? insanity. human error is there for baseball. some replay might be ok, like for HRs. but no way to balls and strikes. would remove the whole element of the human factor which isn't necessarily the best way to get it right. there's a tenure system w/ umpires and it stinks. they need to be evaluated in a more stringent fashion, have a better feeder system, and far less showmanship than is displayed by some younger umps nowadays. i heard a thing on cowherd the other day where tito francona said that he went out to argue a call one time against this young ump, forget his name atm, but Blue had the balls to say to francona as he approached him, "You know that you're about to argue with the best young umpire in the game?"
I'm with you on this one. Human error is a HUGE part of the game! To make everything computer-regulated would suck all the life out of the greatest sport in the world.
Darkness
Shadow creature
balls and strikes should remain with the umpire, but everything else can be checked by replay IMHO. Baseball is already a fairly slow game, so it would not break the "action"...
It'd be nice to avoid idiocy like Jim Joyce's error last year...
It'd be nice to avoid idiocy like Jim Joyce's error last year...
El Justo
Deity
yes, it would be nice to avoid that type of idiocy. the fact of the matter is that MLB has cracked the door open for more replay stuff with the HR Reviews. so inevitably, some type of replay expansion will occur whether it be in the near or more distant future. i just hope that the human element, warts and all (to a certain degree), are still a component of the game.
i would love to see more emphasis put on the umpire ratings by MLB. by that i mean that we all read about the so-called 'worst umpires' list each year and lots of repeat customers. why not be able to demote them back to the minors like with the players? players and coaches, gm's, scouts and the like, if they don't perform, they're shipped out or pushed down the chain. same should apply for umpires. rate poorly or in the very bottom tier, say, bottom 10% +/- and you get sent down and another quality ump is brought up to take their place. this type of incentive to stay on top of the calling of games would no doubt make the umpire pool much more competitive and in effect would, on paper, make the officiating more efficient. just my nickel's worth
i would love to see more emphasis put on the umpire ratings by MLB. by that i mean that we all read about the so-called 'worst umpires' list each year and lots of repeat customers. why not be able to demote them back to the minors like with the players? players and coaches, gm's, scouts and the like, if they don't perform, they're shipped out or pushed down the chain. same should apply for umpires. rate poorly or in the very bottom tier, say, bottom 10% +/- and you get sent down and another quality ump is brought up to take their place. this type of incentive to stay on top of the calling of games would no doubt make the umpire pool much more competitive and in effect would, on paper, make the officiating more efficient. just my nickel's worth
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