2023 Spring Training Thread

[NWinAZ]

Really weird, figured the MLB has all that stuff lined up before an international player is signs.

You would think.

 

[NWinAZ]

 

[NWinAZ]

 

[Anointed One]

It was awesome listening to baseball again live on the radio today... Nothing like opening day whether it's regular season or spring training for me... I'm a die hard at heart...

 

[NWinAZ]

 

[NWinAZ]

 

[NWinAZ]

 

[NWinAZ]

 

[wazzu31]

Not trying to shit on Crawford, but isn’t this an every off-season thing for him. “This time I’m taking my craft super serious in the off-season” I 100% commend him on turning his career around after it looked like he was on the Dustin Ackley trajectory.

 

[MarinersBestFan]

I am not convinced yet how much this line up is an improvement over last years?

I am in the camp of what have you done lately and SHOW ME you can put up the numbers to back up all the analytics and talk.

Watching the Saturday preseason game BOS vs ATL - 1st inning or 2 is a comedy of errors: routine ball to 3rd basemen booted - base runner turns too wide at 3rd base and gets back doored from left field for out #2 and a batter gets rung up with strike 1 because he was not set and ready in the batters box in a certain allotment of time. Where is this mythical stop watch timer located that all these new rules are using as a 'shot clock' ??

 

[WizardHawk]

Just tuned in to see a little spring ball just in time to watch a Marco meatball (tm)

Already in mid-season form.

 

[MarinersBestFan]

Just tuned in to see a little spring ball just in time to watch a Marco meatball (tm)

Already in mid-season form.

And he was all butt hurt and wandering why he was left off the playoff roster at the end of last season

 

[WizardHawk]

Yes, those bases do physically look larger. Wasn't sure if it would be that obvious, but it is. Looks larger than our cat beds.

 

[seahawksfan234]

I don't hate it. Like I said, I'm on the fence.

The clock can help a runner quite a bit. Batter has to be in the box with 8 seconds to go. It's not going to be hard to get a feel for how a pitcher is working those 8 seconds. The closer to zero, the more likely you can time the jump. We could see some ABs actually be slower. If you have a runner and the batter decides to help that runner by delaying going into the box on every pitch, we could see some long delays. Yes, some are bad now with longer delays. This just won't fix it all. Particularly with runners on.

Same with limiting throws. If you throw twice you are giving the runner a green light to go knowing they aren't likely to throw again. Combine that with not getting in the box until 8 sec left and we will see a lot more attempts.

I don't think that is all bad, just different. Enough so to make setting any new records meaning less.

As for the shift, I was calling for an end to it years ago. I want more base hits. I hope that wrinkle where you can use 5 infielders doesn't become common. Doubt it will though.

Really I think the only record that would possibly be impacted are stolen bases. And quite frankly, even if they made the bases 3 times their current size and didn't allow pitchers to throw to first, I doubt anyone can even come close to sniffing the insane records that Rickey Henderson put up during his career. 130 SBs in a season is unfathomable to me. 66 stolen bases at 39 years old? Crazy.

 

[seahawksfan234]

Your first 2 I only like because it trolls the fuck out of the analytic guys that I despise. I do think the shift ban is dumb as hell because instead of making the hitters become professional hitters they just take it away. Banning the shift is statistically the exact same as if they ban left handed pitchers from pitching to lefties. The larger bases is to just to make the game more exciting and outside of bunting, new age front office guys approve of players injecting themselves with HGH in front of the commissioner as opposed to allowing players to randomly attempt a steal.

The whole pitch clock thing I actually think it great. There was already a rule than no one enforced. It is great for fan interaction, and it works for all fans. The hipsters in the pen will love it, the kids love it, the dad loves it because it gets their sons into the game. As well, throwing over to first isn’t just to stall, they do it to piss the fans off and it psychologically put pressure on the batter.

The analytics guys believe that stolen bases are a waste of time, so it'll be interesting to see how many more steal attempts we see. Even though I do somewhat fit into the analytic nerd category, I've never really bought into the argument against steals. You get a single and steal second and that gives you essentially an extra base hit with a guy who has the speed to score from second. Personally, that makes a lot of strategic sense to me. I think their argument against it is that if the runner gets caught stealing, it essentially wipes out the base hit. Simple solution to that: Don't send guys who can't run.

I watched the game today and I love the idea of the pitch clock, but seeing it implemented live is going to take some time to getting used to. It made things feel slightly rushed, but I'll get used to that. I think the only thing that bothered me is that seeing the pitch clock on the screen was slightly distracting to me.

 

[seahawksfan234]

My bad ... I did not do a forensic fact check.

I thought you wanted verification on the math of strike out %

Rainman ( ulmax ) this is right up his alley ( Maybe it will keep him off the Seahawk postings in the MLB forum )

Nah I was just rounding up. I just wanted to know if those stats were right, not the math lol.

 

[seahawksfan234]

Sorry man, math isn’t my thing, nor is looking anything. I’ll trust your numbers cause watching him that strikeout rate doesn’t sound like it is a stretch.

I guess I'm an idiot because I didn't clarify I just wanted to ensure that the data ESPN was providing was accurate, not the math.

 

[seahawksfan234]

I'm all for it.

I am not a morning person, but I have to be at work early so these days I go to bed pretty early because it takes me forever to fall asleep, so the games ending earlier benefits me personally.

Also I'm not going to miss a pitcher taking forever to throw the damn ball.

 

[Anointed One]

That’s the Marco we’ve all grown to love. I’m hoping he continues to do this so he doesn’t make the rotation.

 

[seahawksfan234]

Mariners’ Ty France finally reveals the culprit behind last season’s second-half slump

Removed from the heat of a playoff chase, Ty France finally shared what led to his second-half struggles last season.

www.seattletimes.com

Don't know if this was posted but I thought this was pretty interesting. I don't want to say "I told you so," but it seems like I was right that he was playing through the injury when he should've spent time on the IL. I'm surprised he was so candid about his struggles, I really like the fact that he seems very self aware of what his problem was.