10-day suspension caper

[Maxbialystock]

It will be interesting to see how his outing goes tonight.

 

Cora has stated that his spin rates are still very good. He still has best spin rate in MLB on his curveball and the spin rate on his fastball is in the top 4%. IMO, Richards has to get out of his own head.

 

I'm rooting for Richards tonight. Yes, a whiner, but last game he was definitely a battler as well.

 

Indeed, I'm beginning to think that the Commish's dictum has both stemmed the tsumani of foreign substances being plastered all over caps, gloves, belts, and of course baseballs and also caused pitchers to adapt in unexpected but commendable ways.

 

In what--2 weeks?--one MLB pitcher has been nailed by an ump. If we assume 15 games per team and 5 pitchers per team per game, that's possibly 150 pitchers who have been scrutinized.

 

To me it is unarguable that the Commish done good. Next up: 25 seconds between pitches enforced.

[Kimmi]

I'm rooting for Richards tonight. Yes, a whiner, but last game he was definitely a battler as well.

 

Indeed, I'm beginning to think that the Commish's dictum has both stemmed the tsumani of foreign substances being plastered all over caps, gloves, belts, and of course baseballs and also caused pitchers to adapt in unexpected but commendable ways.

 

In what--2 weeks?--one MLB pitcher has been nailed by an ump. If we assume 15 games per team and 5 pitchers per team per game, that's possibly 150 pitchers who have been scrutinized.

 

To me it is unarguable that the Commish done good. Next up: 25 seconds between pitches enforced.

 

The crack down seems to be working, no doubt.

 

Beyond that, I am not in agreement that Manfred did a good job of handling this.

[Maxbialystock]

The crack down seems to be working, no doubt.

 

Beyond that, I am not in agreement that Manfred did a good job of handling this.

 

What's bad, that one player got called on it and is now appealing? Manfred said what he would do, and he did it, using the right mechanism, the umpires. I seen nothing untoward in all that.

[Kimmi]

What's bad, that one player got called on it and is now appealing? Manfred said what he would do, and he did it, using the right mechanism, the umpires. I seen nothing untoward in all that.

 

Making the change midseason, for one. Regardless of whether Manfred said he would do it or not, why make the change in the middle of a season?

[Bellhorn04]

Making the change midseason, for one. Regardless of whether Manfred said he would do it or not, why make the change in the middle of a season?

 

I did see it reported that MLB made a lot of attempts to warn players that action was coming and felt they were being ignored.

[Kimmi]

I did see it reported that MLB made a lot of attempts to warn players that action was coming and felt they were being ignored.

 

I don't doubt that. Still, why not implement the rule at the beginning of a season?

[Bellhorn04]

I don't doubt that. Still, why not implement the rule at the beginning of a season?

 

Agreed. My theory is that they brought in a new baseball this year with slightly higher seams. The combination of the higher seams and Spider Tack pushed the spin rates through the roof.

 

Alex Cora said at one point he had never seen breaking pitches breaking so much.

 

When they looked at the data they freaked out.

[Kimmi]

Agreed. My theory is that they brought in a new baseball this year with slightly higher seams. The combination of the higher seams and Spider Tack pushed the spin rates through the roof.

 

Alex Cora said at one point he had never seen breaking pitches breaking so much.

 

When they looked at the data they freaked out.

 

That's a plausible theory. So the lesson is that they shouldn't have messed with the baseballs.

 

The good news, I guess, is that the crackdown on the sticky stuff seems to be having the effect of increased offense, which MLB so greatly desires.