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spystud13

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Welp, hope he enjoyed his career. 

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Well-known sportswriter Jonah Keri was granted bail Friday following an alleged assault on his wife.

Keri faces four charges: two counts of assault, one count of assault causing bodily harm and one count of uttering death threats.

He was detained Thursday after being arrested at the couple’s Montreal-area home.

Keri, 44, was handcuffed and wearing a green sweatshirt when he appeared in court Friday and was granted bail.

As part of his bail conditions he cannot be within 250 metres of his wife or child, cannot carry weapons, and was given ten days to get his possessions out of his home.

Court documents state the alleged attacks against Keri's wife took place in July 2018, May 2019, and July 2019.

His lawyer, Louis Morena, said that the couple was obviously in trouble and he attempted to downplay the charges.

"Death threats are sometimes said in a moment of anger especially when there's an emotional situation of divorce and you're seeing your family go down the drain," Morena told reporters.

His next court date is Nov. 10, 2019.

Five years ago Keri wrote a book about the history of the Montreal Expos baseball team. He frequently writes for The Athletic, but that publication suspended Keri after learning of the charges.

 

 

 

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1 hour ago, spystud13 said:

His lawyer, Louis Morena, said that the couple was obviously in trouble and he attempted to downplay the charges.

"Death threats are sometimes said in a moment of anger especially when there's an emotional situation of divorce and you're seeing your family go down the drain," Morena told reporters.

Sometimes even lawyers should just shut their fucking mouths.  

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41 minutes ago, Dr Fear said:

 

 

So I have seen Jansen this year. Did not think much of that, but I ran across this article from last season. This is pretty damn cool. Baseball has so many wonderful things that happen. It should promote this stuff more. Article is definitely refreshing to read.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/24439791

 

Edited by UpperWestside
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^ Check out his transaction log since last year. 

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May 26, 2019 Tampa Bay Rays selected the contract of RHP Oliver Drake from Durham Bulls.

January 24, 2019 Tampa Bay Rays sent RHP Oliver Drake outright to Durham Bulls.

January 18, 2019 Tampa Bay Rays designated Oliver Drake for assignment.

January 4, 2019 Toronto Blue Jays traded RHP Oliver Drake to Tampa Bay Rays for cash.

December 30, 2018 Toronto Blue Jays designated RHP Oliver Drake for assignment.

November 26, 2018 Toronto Blue Jays claimed RHP Oliver Drake off waivers from Tampa Bay Rays.

November 20, 2018 Tampa Bay Rays designated RHP Oliver Drake for assignment.

November 1, 2018 Tampa Bay Rays claimed RHP Oliver Drake off waivers from Minnesota Twins.

August 4, 2018 Minnesota Twins activated RHP Oliver Drake.

August 3, 2018 Minnesota Twins claimed RHP Oliver Drake off waivers from Toronto Blue Jays.

July 30, 2018 Toronto Blue Jays designated RHP Oliver Drake for assignment.

July 26, 2018 Toronto Blue Jays claimed RHP Oliver Drake off waivers from Los Angeles Angels.

July 23, 2018 Los Angeles Angels designated RHP Oliver Drake for assignment.

July 6, 2018 Los Angeles Angels selected the contract of RHP Oliver Drake from Salt Lake Bees.

June 19, 2018 Los Angeles Angels sent RHP Oliver Drake outright to Salt Lake Bees.

June 16, 2018 Los Angeles Angels designated RHP Oliver Drake for assignment.

June 1, 2018 Los Angeles Angels activated RHP Oliver Drake.

May 31, 2018 Los Angeles Angels claimed RHP Oliver Drake off waivers from Cleveland Indians.

May 26, 2018 Cleveland Indians designated RHP Oliver Drake for assignment.

May 8, 2018 Cleveland Indians activated RHP Oliver Drake.

May 5, 2018 Milwaukee Brewers traded RHP Oliver Drake to Cleveland Indians for cash.

May 2, 2018 Milwaukee Brewers designated RHP Oliver Drake for assignment.

 

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46 minutes ago, shnsajax said:

Goddamn

 

 

 

 

 

Screwball protonation with a split finger grip?  Baseball savant shows him only throwing a four seamer and split.  However he did it, right handers aren't supposed to get break like that.

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Taylor Rogers has been fucking nails lately, retires Chapman & Olson in like a minute, then blows the fucking save. Hendriks promptly loads them with 1 out in bot 9 for the stupid-hot Garver 6-4-3. 

By the way, Garver’s OPS is 1.017. Is that more or less crazy than Ian fucking Kennedy having 17 saves? 

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8 hours ago, youdunnf'dup said:

Yeah, the A’s are doing that weird “we’re the hottest team in the AL for about a month now” bullshit that they seem to do from time to time. Hasn’t Blake Treinen blown a ton of games this year? I know he’s not the closer anymore, but still. 

Yeah Treinen and Trivino have both been godawful this year, but somehow the rest of the bullpen with Hendriks as closer have stepped up.

Hendricks loading the bases in the 9th last night before the Twins hit into a double play was not exactly confidence-inspiring, though.

Edited by texifornia
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Yesterday I was listening to something where they were talking about Tony Gwynn and just how great he was. I’ve always known Gwynn was one of the greatest hitters of all time, but he was a little before my time. I never really understood just how great he was. Some of these stats are just ridiculous:

He’d have to go 0-1083 for his career batting average to dip below .300

323 plate appearances against Maddux, Glavine, Smoltz, and Pedro, and he hit .373 with 3 strikeouts

Never struck out looking more than 9 times in a season

He had more 4-hit games (45) than multi strikeout games (34)

His CAREER batting average (.338) is better than 8 of the last 9 NL batting champs 

In 1987, he could’ve gone 0-56 at the end of his season and he still would’ve won the batting title

 

I know a lot of you are probably like “yeah, no shit. We watched Tony Gwynn in his prime. Trust me, we know” but I was blown away when I heard some of those numbers. 

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1 hour ago, UTexasFight said:

[every scouting report today]Poor launch angle, below average exit velo, body weight concerns.
Do not want [/every scouting report today]

Eh, it's kind of true.  We appreciate Gwynn because of his artistry. 

But 3-run homers win a lot more games than artistry. 

Guys like Gwynn, Ichiro, and Carew (also, he who shall not be named) do get overrated because of how easy they made hitting look. 

Also, skinny Gwynn was a much better player than fat Gwynn.  Skinny Gwynn could regularly play CF and steal 40-50 bases at a high success rate. 

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7 minutes ago, bschoolprof said:

One of my all time favorite players. 

In 1995, Tony Gwynn had 15 strikeouts.  For the whole season.  He had 577 plate appearances that year.  Holy shit.  

In the latter part of his career, umps basically never called a strike looking on him.  They figured if he didn't swing, it wasn't a strike.  At least that's the way it seemed to me.

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Speaking of batting average/not striking out, timely article in the WSJ today about Jeff McNeil.

The Last Player In Baseball Who Cares About Batting Average:


During an era when everyone is trying to slug the ball over the fence, the Mets’ Jeff McNeil has one goal when he steps in the batter’s box: to hit ‘em where they ain’t


Alex Bregman probably thought he was speaking for all of his fellow baseball players when, in a session with reporters at the All-Star Game in Cleveland earlier this month, he made an emphatic proclamation.

“All the hitters care about now is OPS,” said Bregman, the Houston Astros’ third baseman. “We don’t care about batting average.” He was referring to on-base plus slugging, the modern metric that, unlike batting average, takes walks into account and values extra-base hits more than singles. Bregman went on to describe batting average, once the premier measurement of offensive success, as an “old stat that doesn’t matter.”

The overwhelming majority of Bregman’s peers agree. The modern game revolves around power to an unprecedented degree. Home runs and strikeouts are at record highs, thanks to the influence of data analytics that show the value of sacrificing contact for thump. It isn’t unlike the revolution under way in the NBA, with teams recognizing that attempting more 3-pointers, even with a lower conversion rate than their two-point counterparts, will ultimately yield better results.

Jeff McNeil of the New York Mets knows all of that. He just doesn’t care. In an era where players like Wee Wille Keeler are all but extinct, McNeil still has one goal: to hit ‘em where they ain’t.

“I care about batting average,” McNeil said. “That’s the one stat I look at.”

McNeil’s throwback approach has turned him into perhaps the most unlikely star in baseball.

Wielding his bat more like a sword than a bludgeon, McNeil has a .339 batting average in 2019, the best in the major leagues. He’s vying to become just the third National League player this decade to hit .340 for a full season. He called winning the batting title “a goal, obviously,” which, given the consensus about batting average these days, isn’t so obvious at all.

There was a time not too long ago when hitting .300 was considered a crowning achievement worthy of accolades and financial reward. Now it hardly happens. Only 16 players finished with a .300 batting average in 2018. There hasn’t been a season with fewer such players since 1968, the year before MLB lowered the pitching mound to generate more offense. Throughout the 1970s and ’80s, an average of about 24 players hit .300 each season.

Enter McNeil. He hit .329 in 63 games after debuting with the Mets last July and has only improved from there, establishing himself as a slasher modeled after Tony Gwynn or Rod Carew.

“A lot of pitchers get me out, obviously, but I don’t know exactly how to get me out,” he said. “I can hit almost every pitch.”

Everything about McNeil’s profile at the plate gives the impression of a player who stepped into a time machine from a previous era and accidentally crash landed here.

He says he could hit more home runs—he currently has nine—but chooses not to because it would negatively affect his batting average, his top priority. He despises strikeouts and considers them a failure. He has whiffed in just 13% of his plate appearances. The MLB average is nearly 23%. In his third and final season at Long Beach State, he struck out a total of 11 times in 221 at-bats.

“He’s one of the few guys who has a true two-strike approach,” said Mets quality control coach Luis Rojas, referring to the adjustment disciplined hitters make when facing a possible strikeout. Rojas managed McNeil throughout the minor leagues.

McNeil approaches hitting not as a test of strength, but as a display of finesse. Most hitters today are comfortable falling behind in the count and risking a strikeout in the hopes that the pitcher eventually throws a meatball they could hit for a home run. Not McNeil. He swings at close to 60% of the pitches he sees, preferring to slap a borderline pitch for a single than wait for a more perfect offering that might never come.

He can do this, he says, because, “I know I have the bat control to where I can hit it anywhere.” That’s why he loves when opponents deploy defensive shifts against him. Against a traditional defense, 85% of his grounders and short line drives are to right field, his pull side as a lefty hitter, according to Sports Info Solutions. Against the shift, however, that number plummets to just above 60%, with McNeil looking to send the ball through the newly created hole.

It makes McNeil a nightmare for opposing pitchers. Milwaukee Brewers right-hander Brandon Woodruff, who has allowed two hits to McNeil this season, said he feels more comfortable pitching to big power hitters because “you can find some holes in their swings.”

McNeil doesn’t seem to have any, earning him a reputation as a magician with the bat capable of spoiling even the toughest pitches. He has fouled off 38% of the strikes he has seen this season, easily the most in the majors. Jacob deGrom, McNeil’s teammate and the reigning Cy Young winner, said the best way to get McNeil out is to “hope he hits it at somebody.”

“He’s annoying,” said Troy Buckley, his college coach. “It doesn’t matter if it’s San Bernardino or Citi Field.”

McNeil was never considered a can’t-miss prospect. He didn’t join the baseball team in high school until his senior year, choosing instead to focus on golf. He hit just .264 in his first two years at Long Beach State, but broke out as a junior, posting a .348 batting average. The Mets selected him in the 12th round of the 2013 draft. He finished his college career with exactly zero home runs.

When Buckley gave McNeil a scholarship, he never imagined he was signing a future major-league All-Star. In today’s baseball, hitters who don’t produce much power are easily overlooked. But at every level he went, from college to the minors to the majors, McNeil kept hitting singles and doubles until he couldn’t be ignored.

Right now, nobody is ignoring him.

“It’s more of a challenge, because there’s nothing eye-popping,” Buckley said. “There’s no wow factor. But after a week or two weeks you walk away going, ‘That guy’s a pretty good player, man.’”

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-last-player-in-baseball-who-cares-about-batting-average-11563796824?emailToken=d0d7b94160c32bc2f1eaa7efbf072a5b6vPyyocjZ0SF/SUcSlL0dqpmDTWlx2GI0H2QqN1jOELSgHlrwvOp4ZOvx4l3psJb15UCi0bdIDbnVwhfxDDzG3hS+6VkzTyldZw/tjFh/4l/imyUPL6/Xk368fFfOCrX&reflink=article_email_share


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Tony Gwynn is my favorite non-Astro ever.  I’ve lived a good chunk of my adult life since ‘95 in San Diego and saw him play a lot.  His son works with their radio team, and I do a double take every time I hear him on a broadcast because he sounds just like his Dad.  

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Red Sox season could get really ugly in the next week.   I doubt they become sellers but it’s not beyond the realm of possibility.   

14 games in 14 days against the Rays and Yankees can’t be fun for anyone but I’d wager they play .500 ball or better and set up for at least WC2 by end of August

Rays aren’t going to disappear but I think they are going to start leaking a lot of oil soon
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19 minutes ago, UTexasFight said:

Speaking of batting average/not striking out, timely article in the WSJ today about Jeff McNeil.

The Last Player In Baseball Who Cares About Batting Average:

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McNeil has a lower OB% than Bregman, who is batting .269.  Sometimes I think people would make a better distinction if we took 1 minus OB% and called it Out Percentage.  Can we agree that making outs is bad? 

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