AL CENTRAL DISCUSSION

[Markwassillylaugher]

Trevor Bauer suggested that Verlander and other Houston pitchers are doctoring the baseball to increase the spin rate. Verlander cheating????? Well - he spent time with Cabrera and saw ''the juice''. Who knows. lol

you can bet that Verlander was very happy to get out of Detroit! Houston is a very young team.
Charlie Morton was a complete bust in Pittsburgh. their pitch to contact theory should not be forced on every pitcher!
too often he had thrown 95 pitches at the end of 5 innings. If you can get a strikeout using just 5 pitches / at bat then do it.

 

[Voltaire26]

you can bet that Verlander was very happy to get out of Detroit! Houston is a very young team.
Charlie Morton was a complete bust in Pittsburgh. their pitch to contact theory should not be forced on every pitcher!
too often he had thrown 95 pitches at the end of 5 innings. If you can get a strikeout using just 5 pitches / at bat then do it.

Verlander was a class act in Detroit ... a lot of former Tigers were. I wish them well when they are not playing the Tigers.

 

[Shaggy]

You just saw shaggy the Mods post....after those 3 were attacking me in this thread. Just read the last 3 pages.. he told me to SHUT UP...not a word to them. D Back fan he is. Tells you all you need to know

Yeah that's it. All I see from you is full shit talk on your end and when someone craps in your yard, you cry REPORT.

 

[Iffster]

you can bet that Verlander was very happy to get out of Detroit! Houston is a very young team.
Charlie Morton was a complete bust in Pittsburgh. their pitch to contact theory should not be forced on every pitcher!
too often he had thrown 95 pitches at the end of 5 innings. If you can get a strikeout using just 5 pitches / at bat then do it.

From what I've been reading, Houston's "plan" is to increase (or decrease) spin rate on pitches. Increased spin rate does not actually add mph on a pitch, but it effects its trajectory. Thus a high spin rate on a fastball will cause it not to sink as quickly, thus throwing off (supposedly) a hitters timing. Conversely, lower spin rates on fastball cause more sink (or quicker sink). What I am getting is that --- Houston analytics is showing its pitchers how to use arm angle and hand positioning to increase their spin rate to fool batters expecting sinking and/or moving fastballs. (In other words they are swinging where they think a high fastball would be...but because it isn't sinking as quickly, they swing under it.)
Yet...as one coach said....higher spin rate straightens fastballs out so eventually hitters will adapt to those pitchers with a high spin rate.

 

[dougplayer]

Yeah that's it. All I see from you is full shit talk on your end and when someone craps in your yard, you cry REPORT.

The fact that you DIDN'T receive a report must have been way over your head.

 

[PEOPLESCHICKEN]

Great baseball post

Baseball is a game of data. Everyone fan knows this

 

[PEOPLESCHICKEN]

What a day. Betts and Encarcion both have 3 HR games!

 

[Voltaire26]

What a day. Betts and Encarcion both have 3 HR games!

On the other end of the spectrum ... Tigers Jacoby Jones scores on a suicide squeeze to win the game. This Tiger team isn't great, but they sure are more fun than last year.

 

[PEOPLESCHICKEN]

On the other end of the spectrum ... Tigers Jacoby Jones scores on a suicide squeeze to win the game. This Tiger team isn't great, but they sure are more fun than last year.

I am sure they are. Because the Indians have been there many many times in my fan lifetime, I can make a qualified statement that there is something fun and special about watching a young team scratch and claw its way through a season. You will certainly have ups and downs but fun nonetheless

 

[Voltaire26]

I am sure they are. Because the Indians have been there many many times in my fan lifetime, I can make a qualified statement that there is something fun and special about watching a young team scratch and claw its way through a season. You will certainly have ups and downs but fun nonetheless

I never thought there'd be this many ups ... gotta blame it on the manager!!! We are not going anywhere this year, but I still enjoying it. Your Indians gotta watch they don't blow it ... they have to own this division this year.

 

[PEOPLESCHICKEN]

I never thought there'd be this many ups ... gotta blame it on the manager!!! We are not going anywhere this year, but I still enjoying it. Your Indians gotta watch they don't blow it ... they have to own this division this year.

The bullpen is of the greatest concern for me. With Miller out and the loss of Shaw it is a weak area. I am hoping they are in a position to pick up some arms around the trade deadline

 

[PEOPLESCHICKEN]

On this day in 1939 Lou Gehrig took himself out of the lineup. Ironic, as someone on this thread was taken out today as well

 

[Iffster]

I'm noticing a LOT of mental errors coming from JaCoby Jones. The other day he nonchalanted a single into a double by flipping the ball up in the air after he failed to catch a liner and had to play it on one hop. The other day, he stole second base in the ninth inning when the team was three runs down. Why? Did he do it on his own? If not...then stupid coaching call. Today he tried to take second, tagging up on a medium fly ball to center...and failed. Again...his failure or bad call from the bench. It cost the team a run as McCann followed with a homer.

 

[Iffster]

@Howie115 - did you know that ALL Detroit Tiger fans (except me) were correct about Detroit the last three seasons? The team would have won three straight World Championships if it wasn't for Brad Ausmus.
Myself? I was too dumb to see it. I was focused on the crappy fielding at 3B and the OF, the failure to find a good CF, poor pitching, ultra poor free agent signings and no minor league help.....
I guess I just missed seeing Ausmus, out on the field, making those errors, striking out, grounding into DPs, and serving up gopher balls.

 

[dougplayer]

Both. Tiger. And Dodgers won today. By score of 2-1.
True stat. Both big wins. Turning the corner?????
Dodgers are a dangerous team. You have to like them to win NL WEST
.....tigers. it will be a fight all the way to the end

 

[handicappers]

 

[Howie115]

From what I've been reading, Houston's "plan" is to increase (or decrease) spin rate on pitches. Increased spin rate does not actually add mph on a pitch, but it effects its trajectory. Thus a high spin rate on a fastball will cause it not to sink as quickly, thus throwing off (supposedly) a hitters timing. Conversely, lower spin rates on fastball cause more sink (or quicker sink). What I am getting is that --- Houston analytics is showing its pitchers how to use arm angle and hand positioning to increase their spin rate to fool batters expecting sinking and/or moving fastballs. (In other words they are swinging where they think a high fastball would be...but because it isn't sinking as quickly, they swing under it.)
Yet...as one coach said....higher spin rate straightens fastballs out so eventually hitters will adapt to those pitchers with a high spin rate.

To me, the most telling difference in Verlander's numbers since he went to Houston are strikeout rate and walk rate. In 12 starts with the Astros, his K rate is 11.6. Career K rate with the Tigers was 8.5. His walk rate with the Astros is 1.4. Career walk rate with the Tigers was double that (2.8).

Also, and maybe this is coaching, he has thrown considerably fewer changeups in Houston. He had already begun to throw the pitch less in his 2016 Cy Young year (yes, he SHOULD have won it). But last year, only 4% of his pitches were changeups. This year, he's pretty much become a three-pitch pitcher (fastball, curve, slider), throwing the changeup a mere 1.5%.

 

[Howie115]

@Howie115 - did you know that ALL Detroit Tiger fans (except me) were correct about Detroit the last three seasons? The team would have won three straight World Championships if it wasn't for Brad Ausmus.
Myself? I was too dumb to see it. I was focused on the crappy fielding at 3B and the OF, the failure to find a good CF, poor pitching, ultra poor free agent signings and no minor league help.....
I guess I just missed seeing Ausmus, out on the field, making those errors, striking out, grounding into DPs, and serving up gopher balls.

Hard to say if Ausmus' questionable moves cost the Tigers the two games that kept them out of the 2016 postseason. People who get paid more than me to "crunch numbers" would have to tell you. The 2015 team had boatloads of injuries. Last year, Ausmus had very little to work with. Post sell-off, he had pretty much nothing to work with.

I think most would agree that Gardenhire > Ausmus, but the manager only makes a difference in a handful of games. Me personally, I think the most important move a manager makes is who he hires as his pitching coach.

 

[SlinkyRedfoot]

Cleveland pitcher - Trevor Bauer - has made insinuations that Justin Verlander and the Houston pitching staff could be doing something illegal to the baseball to increase their spin rate on their pitches. Looking at the ERAs of Verlander, Cole, and Morton does seem to ask the question of - what is going on in Houston?
I find it hard to believe that Verlander who is financially set for life, would resort to doctoring baseballs. But he is a competitive player who wants to add to his resume....so? And as far as using some chemical substance to improve his performance....maybe we should ask Kate Upton what "substances" JV uses to increase his performance in the bedroom. ''Viagara'' and ''Swedish Hard-on Extender'' --- to some tacky substance on a baseball? Maybe Kate knows what he/she puts on his balls?

He didn't bring up doctoring the balls, he implied they were using a foreign (sticky) substance.

 

[SlinkyRedfoot]

Somehow when an ohio state person slams the Wolverines, it doesn't bother me. When an unaffiliated troll does it to rile up a special person who is easy to rile it becomes annoying.

Stockholm Syndrome.