Monthly Archives: November 2016
Tribe Needs: Looking Ahead to 2017
photo courtesy of Chuck Crow via The Plain Dealer
in 2016, the Cleveland Indians were one win away from achieving their ultimate goal of becoming World Series Champions. now i’m going to look ahead and determine what they have to do–specifically, what moves they need to make–in order to claim the title next year.
the good news is they don’t require a complete overhaul. in fact, they’re luckier than most teams because the Indians are going to retain the majority of their 2016 roster, including all of their core players. not only that, but the players who were injured in October/November will also be starting the upcoming season at full health. (knock on wood.) so if they can just add a few more pieces, then the Indians should be primed and ready for another run towards a championship. in the meantime, i’m taking on the role of the front office.
Trimming the Fat: Major League Baseball Can Fix Pace-of-Play, Ineffective Bullpens and Revenue Issues with One Simple Change
We hear a lot about length of game and payrolls, and the need for fixing MLB pace-of-game. To the point John Lackey in August states baseball’s getting “soft”. I can’t argue with that. It is; snd part of the issue is the widespread use of the bullpen. 30 years ago, starters were throwing 120 or more pitches during a game. The logic was simple: They are the start, so the onus is on them. This logic, this mentality, gave us great hurlers like Nolan Ryan and Jack Morris, guys who often went beyond 120 pitches and lead Major League Baseball in pitches, complete games and a slew of other records. They were hard and gritty. But the game is getting “soft” as Lackey points out.
We now get to see the arbitrary pitch count grow. Every network showing Major League Baseball games has a pitch count somewhere. Every stadium advertises the pitch count. It’s become a staple for predicting when a pitching change will occur. We’d see a softening of the game on pitchers. Baseball has created an arbitrary number, the century mark, as the delineating point between continuing to pitch and stopping.
I still recall Jim Leyland and Brad Ausmus taking out starters who were into the 8th inning, even the 9th inning, because they hit 100-110 pitches. Then seeing the bullpen choke up the game. Tigers fans are still smarting from the 2013 ALCS Game 2 debacle caused by Jim Leyland. Ironman Max Scherzer had 108 pitches through the 7th inning. He had a lead of 5-1 over the Red Sox. Jim removed Max, much to the astonishment of fans. Had it been Verlander, he’d have kept him in. The result was catastrophic. The Tigers bullpen choked up five runs in only two innings, and wound up losing 6-5. Ausmus pulled the same stunt on Scherzer in 2014 during the ALDS Game 1 against teh Baltimore Orioles. With Max at 98 pitches after 7.1 innings Ausmus yanked him. Granted, Max was credited with giving up five runs, but he wasn’t given the opportunity to redeem himself as he’s so great at doing. He’s a clutch pitcher. The result of being pulled? The Orioles buried the bullpen, scoring seven runs beyond the five Scherzer gave up. Essentially, by pulling Max at 98 pitches, Ausmus guaranteed the loss, relying on three relievers over 2-2/3rds innings. Instead of a two-run game, it became a blowout.
Stories like these are common throughout baseball. Coaches are so stuck on 100 pitches they no longer thing in terms of the big picture.
BULLPEN PITCHERS OVERPAID AND INEFFECTIVE
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New York Yankees State Of The Union For 2017: Stemming The Tide For Upcoming Seasons
The Yankees shocked the baseball world by contending for the last 2 months in 2016 after dealing away Aroldis Chapman, Andrew Miller and Carlos Beltran at the Deadline. With a the young ‘”Baby Bombers” on the way, tt will take a few good veterans to compliment the talent in order for the Yankees to become extremely dangerous once again. It all starts with the GM Brian Cashman.
Hunter Stokes (Chief Writer/Part Owner)
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I will be the first one to give credit to Brian Cashman for arranging the July Trade Deadline deal moves to free up a rebuild on the fly. The Yankees rewarded their longterm GM by continuing their season streak of over .500 to 22 years.
The management has also been fortunate that Gary Sanchez fared so incredibly well – so they could sell Brian McCann to the Astros, and effectively…
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Curious Case of Jake Arrieta’s 2016 Pitching Mechanics
Jake Arrieta of the Chicago Cubs went through some rough patches in 2016. A loss of command to batters in the middle of pitching sequences led to a noticeable uptick in walks. This issue compounded itself and lead to a potential shift in confidence that correlated with overcompensation. Let’s dive into the numbers over his career to see if 2016 was a return to prior form, leaving 2014 and 2015 as the best we will ever see of Jake Arrieta.
This is a guest post from friend of the blog Ricky Mears, who writes over at Innings Pitched. Their website will be launching in January 2017. Follow @InningsPitched on Twitter to stay up to date before the launch and sign up for the Newsletter. Tickets to a MLB or MiILB will be given away to a follower once they reach the 200 threshold.
By The Numbers
Jake Arrieta was lauded as having pinpoint control in 2014 and 2015. His 2.08 walks per nine innings placed him as number 24 out of 84 qualifying starting pitchers over the two year stretch. In 2014, Arrieta had 8.2% walk rate against lefties and a 5.4% walk rate against righties. Similarly, in 2015 he had a 6.6% walk rate against lefties versus a 4.6% versus righties.
To continue reading the original post on Jake Arrieta’s 2016 pitching mechanics, please visit Off The Bench Baseball
The Oakland Athletics Should Trade Sonny Gray
Conventional wisdom is wrong.
Gray came into last season with 491 career major league innings, a 2.88 career ERA, a 1.13 WHIP and a strikeout to walk ration of nearly 4 to 1. He’d thrown more than 200 innings in each of the preceding 2 seasons and despite being only 5’10”, the then-26 year old was making a name for himself as one of the best young starters in baseball.
Then 2016 happened. Now, there are a lot of people out there saying 2016 has been a pretty bad year. But no matter your political leanings, taste in music, or whatever else, your year probably wasn’t as bad as Sonny Gray’s.
To Continue reading about why the Oakland A’s should Trade Sonny Gray, Please visit offthebenchbaseball.com
The Mets And White Sox Should Workout A Mega Blockbuster Trade For Chris Sale
The Mets have enough young Starting Pitching talent to acquire Chris Sale. I have gone one step further in propoisng them to add Adam Eaton, Todd Frazier and David Robertson as well. The Mets would not be signing Yoenis Cespedes under this potential deal.
Hunter Stokes (Chief Writer/Part Owner)
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The New York Mets could use a healthy ace pitcher, natural CF, 3B to move David Wright over to 1B, while the White Sox could stand to replenish their squad with a nice lift of young Starting Pitchers.
The Proposed Idea for a Trade:
To the Mets:
SP – Chris Sale
OF – Adam Eaton
3B – Todd Frazier
RP – David Robertson
To the White Sox
SP – Steven Matz
SP – Robert Gsellman
SP – Seth Lugo
INF – Wilmer Flores
1B – Dominic Smith (Minors)
1B – Lucas Duda
CF…
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Milwaukee Brewers Holiday Shopping List
With the Hot Stove League heating up and baseball’s winter meetings happening soon, Milwaukee Brewers fans are wondering what could possibly be on General Manager David Stearns’ holiday shopping list. To take a look at what Stearns might do during the remainder of the offseason, first let’s recap what roster moves have happened so far and what holes need to be plugged.
MIlwaukee Is Making A Boneheaded Move If Non-Tendering Chris Carter: Should Have Learned From Houston Last Year
Chris Carter would be the perfect ‘cheap’ addition to compete on a lot of American League Rosters. This man has been criminally underrated for the power and walks he has put forth over the last 4 campaigns. With the ability to DH/play 1B or LF, with Milwaukee having 2 years left of team control in Arbitration, the club has DFA’d him, and likely will be forced to release him outright as A Free Agent. The management also signed an unproven MLB’er (Eric Thames) to a guaranteed $15 MIL over 3 years. Pretty bad on all front in my opinion!
Hunter Stokes (Chief Writer/Part Owner)
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Last year at this time I made the point that the Houston Astros made a big mistake in non-tendering Chris Carter. At that juncture, the man has clubbed 90 HRS over the previous 3 campaigns with the…
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Top Detroit Tigers Prospects For 2017 & How They Fared In 2016
Baseball American and numerous other baseball prospect sites are moving through the process of naming each team’s top prospects for next season and BA just released Detroit’s last week. The list is based on potential and Baseball America is considered the go to when it comes to prospects.
Here’s the list and how that player fared in 2016…
- Matt Manning, RHP – Manning was the 9th overall pick in the 2016 draft and I guarantee one of the first things you will read about him is about his athleticism and his father Rich who played in the NBA. What I like is the kid is 6’6” at 18-years old and could grow another inch. What I am afraid of, is that from all reports, he may remain lanky and unable to add weight to his frame for durability purposes. After being drafted, Manning went to rookie ball in the Gulf Coast League, where he made 10 starts, was 0-2, with a 3.99 ERA, a 1.159 WHIP, 2.1 BB/9 rate, and 14.1 K/9 rate. Expect Manning to move up to West Michigan to start the 2017 season.
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