2015 Playoff Thread

[MarcoPolo]

Gotta love Donnie Baseball.

Can we stop with the "Donnie Baseball" crap? I vote him a new nickname : Donnie Douchebag.

 

[LHG]

Fair enough. But at the same time, the neighborhood play is rather vague and completely up to the judgement of the umpire.

IMHO, the throw was bad enough to eliminate the neighborhood play from discussion. Any other argument past that, such as whether or not he saw Utley is purely academic. I added the argument because it IS an argument. But to me, the throw nullifies it anyway.

And that's the "fun" of the neighborhood play, its highly subjective (as we saw toward the end of the regular season). Considering how bad the throw was, I thought Tejada did a great job trying to get to the bag and then get the throw off. It will be interesting how the commissioner's office moves forward with potentially making a new rule. On a side note, does Marco work for MLB? His knowledge of the rules is amazing and in depth.

 

[tzill]

I'd like to see a new rule put in place :

If you injure a player on the opposing team and it is remotely possible you did it on purpose (blowing up the catcher or the 2nd baseman/SS would be an almost automatic lock) or by not following the rules then :

- You are suspended without pay as long as the other player is out. If the injured player is on the DL 25 days, then the asswipe that injured him is suspended 25 days. If he's out for the season, so are you.
- Enough of your pay (either forfeited pay during suspenion, or pay when you come back if you haven't fully reimbursed the team at that point) is sent to the other team to cover the injured person's salary. Once you are no longer suspended, if you haven't sent enough $$ to pay the other guy's salary, then you earn major league minimum with the rest going to the other team until the other team has been reimbursed. If you make less than twice major league minimum, then you send half your pay. This includes ALL bonuses that are paid before the end of the NEXT regular season (or opening day two seasons out)
- Any player who was suspended during the season and who hasn't paid back the full lost salary by the end of the season must be given a full post-season share by the team (if the team makes the post-season) and the totality of the share is paid to the 'injured team' (until such point that they have been fully reimbursed)
- If the player has to retire because of the injury, you can't play MLB anymore.

The decision should be made by umpires, AFTER the game, upon review of video evidence (but the game umpires should immediately inform the video review team so that the video can be saved for review).

Now, if the injured player *significantly* contributes to the situation, then the other player could get off completely (say a catcher completely blocks home plate - which he is NOT allowed to do, or at least hits in that situation are allowed). If both contributed, then maybe a 50% corrective action against the injuring player.

I think that it would also be a good idea that if the injuring player makes more than the injured player, then half of the injuring player's salary is given to the injured player for a period of time that is 2X the time on the DL. (This will keep asswipes like A-Rod from running over rookies.)

In the Tejada/Utley collision, Utley would be suspended until Tejada comes back, so no more 2015 post-season.

If a 'Posey-like' collision happened, the guy would be out for the rest of the season.

An interesting case is the Hudson/Young first base collision in 2013 that broke his ankle. One the one hand, it was a bang-bang play, everything happening in less than a second and Hudson DID place his foot at the front of the bag almost on the foul line - Young had very little bag to place his foot on AND Hudson did it a second (or less) before Young got to the bag. On the other hand Young was *definitely* running in fair territory WHICH IS SPECIFICALLY DISALLOWED by the rules - the last 40 feet or so the batter-runner is OBLIGATED to run in the three-foot-wide lane painted just foul of first base. {Rule 5.09(a)(11)} If Young had been in that lane, there's a good possibility that he could have placed his foot safely on the base instead of on Hudson's ankle. It would be a tough call.

Obviously, you've thought this out and I get the sentiment. However it can't/shouldn't happen for at least two reasons:

1. The MLBPA would never agree to it; and
2. It's unwieldy and requires too much post hoc determination of intent. Likely easy to apply in the Utley situation, but harder in the Kong situation for instance.

Good food for thought, though.

 

[Mays-Fan]

Obviously, you've thought this out and I get the sentiment. However it can't/shouldn't happen for at least two reasons:

1. The MLBPA would never agree to it; and
2. It's unwieldy and requires too much post hoc determination of intent. Likely easy to apply in the Utley situation, but harder in the Kong situation for instance.

Good food for thought, though.

I posted this after the Kang takeout:

While no solution will be easy, perhaps the easi-EST would be to chalk a line appx 10 feet (or whatever the proper distance would be, maybe 8, maybe 12 feet) from second base. A runner's slide, where he contacts the basepath with a part of his body other than the bottom of his foot, must begin before that line.

A rule like that would not disrupt the game and it would provide an objective basis for judgment as to whether the slide had the intent of colliding with the fielder or not. Fines and/or suspensions could then be issued depending on frequency and severity of the infraction.

 

[Stokes1931]

I posted this after the Kang takeout:

While no solution will be easy, perhaps the easi-EST would be to chalk a line appx 10 feet (or whatever the proper distance would be, maybe 8, maybe 12 feet) from second base. A runner's slide, where he contacts the basepath with a part of his body other than the bottom of his foot, must begin before that line.

A rule like that would not disrupt the game and it would provide an objective basis for judgment as to whether the slide had the intent of colliding with the fielder or not. Fines and/or suspensions could then be issued depending on frequency and severity of the infraction.

I had been thinking the same thing. Utley was almost past the bag when his slide began.

I remember sliding practice in high school (I was awful), and taking out my coach several times because I slid too late. He actually put someone about 6-8 feet from the bag and told me to begin the slide when I reached that person. I still couldn't hit, though.

 

[Stokes1931]

Stros on the verge of knocking out the Royals, up 6-2 in the 8th, and then BOOM, the Royals score 5 runs to take a 7-6 lead. Very entertaining series so far.

Oops, now it is 9-6 in the 9th. Stros bully falling apart.

 

[Stokes1931]

Correa is en fuego.

 

[MarcoPolo]

On a side note, does Marco work for MLB? His knowledge of the rules is amazing and in depth.

If I worked for MLB, I wouldn't have screwed up the eligibility question for the rule 5 draft, eh?

It's just a personal foible of mine. I have basically been researching MLB baseball for 6 or 8 years now, as a personal interest. Whenever a question comes up (either in my mind, or because some announcer says something) I try and figure it out by doing research on the web. I've found copies on the web of each of the last 4 CBAs, and also have several copies of the official MLB rules dating back to the 2008 season. Cot's has one of the best overviews of all the multitude of types of transactions (on the home page, "transactions glossary"), including the mysterious "when a player qualifies for a 4th option year". I've never seen a real definition of eligibility for the rule 5 draft, except that it is 4 or 5 "years" (without the definition of "year" provided). Based on last year's rule 5 draft, the year a person is signed counts as the first "year". (But I wonder what happens if the player was signed after the official season, say Nov 15? Does that year count as well?)

Anyhow.

 

[MarcoPolo]

Astros / Royals game was EPIC !!

And it looks like the BJs are going to force a 5th game as well.

It sux that Houston & KC had to face off in the NLDS, as those are the two AL teams I want to see in the WS.

I will, of course, be rooting for the Mets tonight

 

[1phlapdown]

So Arrieta is human.

 

[calsnowskier]

So Arrieta is human.

He is good...



But he is no Bumgarner.

 

[calsnowskier]

And the Cubbies turn right around and tie it back up.

 

[Stokes1931]

Wacha can not pitch in the post season.

 

[1phlapdown]

F'ing Mutts

 

[MarcoPolo]

Granderson is my hero of the day - bases cleared, 4-3 Mets. w00t! w00t!

 

[calsnowskier]

There is a dude behind home plate wearing a Mets cap who looks just like Mays.

 

[SFGRTB]

Keep piling it on, Mets!

 

[MarcoPolo]

Cespedes is also on my love list - 3 run jack, 10-3 Mets.

 

[calsnowskier]

Dannie needs to send Utley out as a PHer this game to get it over with.

 

[SFGRTB]

Astros / Royals game was EPIC !!

And it looks like the BJs are going to force a 5th game as well.

It sux that Houston & KC had to face off in the NLDS, as those are the two AL teams I want to see in the WS.

I will, of course, be rooting for the Mets tonight

Both AL series going to elimination games. Both NL series are led by the teams I want to see in the NLCS. Fun postseason so far!