drewski6

Im talking about the video game

Yes, you are correct. Its trends , tendencies, hitting philsophy evolution. Right now, pulling the ball is so in right now. No hitting coaches are saying stay back, be patient. They are saying if you get a fastball in a red zone, jump on it, meet the ball out in front. It will likely change again, but right now, pulling the ball is in, and there is a reason for that. Telling someone to stop pulling the ball is arguing with modern hitting philosophies.

Its cheating. And I dont mean banned products. I mean legal tips and tricks.

Sure, but what is your take on the "how"? HOW do players cut down on their k rates? The majority of the time its by playing MLB the Show , so you learn about pitcher tendancies or studying film (which is the same thing) or having a hitting coach tell you keyhole or ambush or stick to your red zones Its not about preaching patience. Some of that, but by the time they get to the majors theyve kind of already maxed that kind of stuff out. Now they need the tips and tricks. Like "this guy has a dirty slider that he throws a lot, jump on the first thing straight" or "you are much better at hitting inside pitches, just look inside dont even swing at outside" or they get experience and get better at pitch-guessing. Or they learn little things like how to cheat in the batters box. Most of the gains come from this, not practicing pitch recognition or learning patience or any of that little league stuff. By the time you reach the majors , there is only marginal gains to be made there. Schwarber didnt stop pulling the ball, or letting it get deeper into the zone, you can tell by the HRs. He didnt learn to stop chasing balls out of the zone. He probably learned pitcher tendancies and is better at guessing what pitcher x is going to throw. He probably stopped trying to cover the whole zone and when he thinks a pitcher wants to work him away, hes only looking away. Its more tips and tricks than it is practice and hard work.

Or they start playing MLB The Show. It really helps.

I remember when Christian Guzman went from a .260 hitter to a .300 hitter overnight. He got Lasik vision correction. Like Wild Thing Vaughn. Thats how you improve overnight lol. Or juice.

If contracts have been stagnant for 5 years or more, you should be signing everybody you can top long term deals. Cuz thats what happens. New contract completely shakes the market and everyone is like "too rich for my blood" and thats just copium. Once Ohtani signed for 700m it was like yeah but deferred money, yeah but he pitches too, yeah but.... Yeah but nothing, Soto got a 700m contract and hes a lousy defender who doesnt pitch. So you know whats next? 700m for non elite players. Then 1b for elite players. So on and so on. And not only will it keep increasing, but the rate of which it is increasing is also increasing (that latter part may not be forever).

Yeah, the two players dont have to be super similar - inflation is going to happen. That is the world. So if a dude is good enough, you may want to lock him up, get in before inflation. Even free-agents. My theory on the matter is that every so-often a new contract comes and sets a completely new standard for contracts. Never down, always up. I remember discussing w/ people saying we shouldnt pay that much for Swayman (Bruins goalie) and I said, once you sign him to a 7m/yr contract, everyone is going to start getting them, and then it will continue to go north from there., Players dont have to get better for their contracts to age well. They just have to not crap the bed. And after Swayman signed (I think he was the third goalie to break the 7m/yr barrier) - like 3 more got that money in 1 year. Now he had an awful year, but the fact remains that there is a trickle up effect. Soto would have never gotten so much money if Ohtani didnt. And now there is no going back. You want a top of the line stud? Who is proven. Already top 10 in the league. The bidding starts at 600m. Thats not coming back down. Pretty much, once Ohtani signed, everyone who was worth a damn became great value on their current deal (even Devers, assuming his SF stats arent his new normal) because Ohtani reset the market. And any contract signed prior to that became gold. Ask anybody who has ever said "Im going to wait for the price of houses to come back down before I buy (myself included)". I always go back to Beltre. Everyone laughed when Beltre got 4 yrs at 16-18m. Two years later, everybody was trying to trade for that contract. Same player, its not like he broke out. If anything he had declined because this was after his tenure here so he was getting up there. My point is that Roman doesnt have to be Betts for that contract to age well. Inflation will do the heavy lifting. He just needs to be adequate, and he'll be a steal in a few years. Because in a few years, todays top dollar will no longer be top dollar.

I didnt get the sense he was comparing the two as much as using Mookie as a barometer. When does Romans contract expire? 29 years old. Its not that different from him being 27 and wanting to get a deal done if hes still awesome before he is a free agent, kind of like you try to lock guys up while you still have control. The point he made was inflation and its a good one. Its very possible that 5 years from now, he is a top 5 OF in baseball with a contract that makes him the 42nd highest paid OF'er in baseball. Its like when Celtics fans told me Jaylen Brown contract was a mistake because it made him highest paid NBA player. I said all you have to do is wait 1 year. Same thing happened to Pat Mahomes. If the deal becomes a bargain, and he really doesnt have to get much better for it to become a bargain (inflation will do the heavy lifting here), then it makes sense to extend him again before he becomes a free-agent at 29 and gets a 1.2 billion dollar from LAD

They have. Leary: What is Youk's ethnicity? Dont think Ive heard that name Orsillo: The name is Greek, but he's ethnically Jewish" (Youk makes a nice play) Leary: "Take that , Mel Gibson"

If a guy gets better at contact, swinging out of the zone - without staying back and turning into a slap hitter, its usually a personal thing. Like Lasik. Generally, when guys try too hard to avoid the k, they get worse overall. Because you clog their head and have them second guessing. Guys are guessing pitch, focusing on one part of the zone, using all of these cheats. Its not about simply being more patient. Schwarber prob use to try to cover the whole plate, and now is only swinging at pitches in his red zones. Its not like someone was like "you should get better at not swinging at junk" and he was like "great idea, never thought of that" You can do it, you can cut down on your k rate, but the coaching and effort component of it is not "swing less" its getting better at guessing pitch, pigeon holing, ambushing, sitting fast ball.

Your first reply to his post or your first reply to his post as "FredLynn"

Well said. To improve chase rate, you need to stay back longer. Its about the approach. Telling someone to get better at recognizing spin is wasted breath. And in 2025, staying back is a fools errand You get better at Ks by learning to live with them. I once had a friend tell me, his solution at poker was to stop losing money. Sounds great. But he then became scared money, and his overall game went south.

Duran

I would also love that Gio deal for us.

3@22.5 with an opt out after 1 or 4 @22.5

Gio gets more, whether thats so much more that its no longer in the same "ballpark" - depends on what you mean by ballpark. Total dollars +/- 15%, no Gio does better than that.

Prob be cleaner if one of your catcher is one of the platoons, but wont always be the case.

Teams are starting to consider not even carrying a true backup catcher anymore. 4 platoon players on the bench teach one to catch so he can double-serve I dont think its long before teams go back to carrying 5 bench players. 5 platoons/team. ANd if your catcher has equal splits, your backup catcher is whomever can (and I do not mean whomever can "well")

If you could have 40 people on your active roster, there would be like 4 position players in the mlb who would not be platooning Platooning isnt a problem, get use to it.

The armed forces draft?

Also, I thought you were a cat.

Fair enough. I dont mind looking at a PW for Cease trade and saying no. I do mind bowing out of the rental market entirely. In my opinion, you have to be willing to overpay when the time is right, and the time is right. That doesnt mean you take any deal thrown your way. PW for Cease wasnt one I was personally hoping they make.

Acquiring and hoarding prospects doesnt work, see the success of teams that flip prospects vs those that hoard them. I dont mind not wanting to pull the trigger on Cease specfically. Im just glad they spent a prospect. I dont care if they got a bullpen pitcher with a 14 ERA. The fact that they bought something is a good sign to me. Hoarders need therapy.

I have friends who Ive been in fantasy leagues for years. They have never made a trade once in a decade. When there is a trade, they are immediately focused on what we gave up. They did not want to make the Crochet trade, or the Celtics trade that brought in KP and Jrue. They overrate our own guys, and poopoo the importance of the deadline every year. They are trade averse. These guys also have a basement full of chotskies and a DVD collection in the thousands. All of their stuff is taken care of. They collect, they hoard and they are good friends, but I just am not that way. ANd I dont want my teams to operate that way, because hoarding is not always good sports management. Every decision is case by case. So yes, there are times when you overpay. There are times when you rent.