MLB News

[frozen4champs]

[gopher6]

Hank Aaron passes away at 86
https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/braves ... utType=amp

[Slap Shot]

[Bladepuller]

No stinking * after his totals.
755 is still it as far as I'm concerned.

[YoungEagle]

Amazing thing is he never hit 50 in a year. Just consistently dinged 40 plus over the course of 25 years. Not to mention he’s a 25 time all star from ‘55-‘75. Every single year. Hats off to a fallen legend.

[Bladepuller]

Career RBI leader also.

[MNNavy]

Amazing thing is he never hit 50 in a year. Just consistently dinged 40 plus over the course of 25 years. Not to mention he’s a 25 time all star from ‘55-‘75. Every single year. Hats off to a fallen legend.

It appears the money GE spent for YE's college education was well spent.

[YoungEagle]

Amazing thing is he never hit 50 in a year. Just consistently dinged 40 plus over the course of 25 years. Not to mention he’s a 25 time all star from ‘55-‘75. Every single year. Hats off to a fallen legend.

It appears the money GE spent for YE's college education was well spent.

Ha funny. I didn’t realise that when I pulled the info from:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/play ... ha01.shtml

[Zwak]

Maybe it's more noticeable because of COVID but the last 12 months has seen a huge number of deaths of bona fide legends.

[Iceburg]

Maybe it's more noticeable because of COVID but the last 12 months has seen a huge number of deaths of bona fide legends.

Several pieces of my youth are breaking off and disappearing in the breeze.

[Beauner]

Maybe it's more noticeable because of COVID but the last 12 months has seen a huge number of deaths of bona fide legends.

10 HoFers in 13 months, and Frank Robinson not long before that.

[Chris83]

Growing up in the 60's, when we were playing ball and you were in the outfield, you were either Aaron, Mantle or Mays. Tony Oliva also of course, being with the Twins. I can quite clearly remember #715 off Al Downing of the Dodgers on Monday Night Baseball. The shadows of my own age grow longer as the heroes of my youth pass on.

[davescharf]

Amazing thing is he never hit 50 in a year. Just consistently dinged 40 plus over the course of 25 years. Not to mention he’s a 25 time all star from ‘55-‘75. Every single year. Hats off to a fallen legend.

It appears the money GE spent for YE's college education was well spent.

Somehow I refrained from making the comment that 25x40 must equal 755 in new math

[Norm]

Maybe it's more noticeable because of COVID but the last 12 months has seen a huge number of deaths of bona fide legends.

Pretty sure about 2 weeks ago they showed Hank on the news getting his Covid shot.

[Slap Shot]

Amazing thing is he never hit 50 in a year. Just consistently dinged 40 plus over the course of 25 years. Not to mention he’s a 25 time all star from ‘55-‘75. Every single year. Hats off to a fallen legend.

It appears the money GE spent for YE's college education was well spent.

YE's reply notwithstanding

[MNNavy]

Amazing thing is he never hit 50 in a year. Just consistently dinged 40 plus over the course of 25 years. Not to mention he’s a 25 time all star from ‘55-‘75. Every single year. Hats off to a fallen legend.

It appears the money GE spent for YE's college education was well spent.

Ha funny. I didn’t realise that when I pulled the info from:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/play ... ha01.shtml

I followed the link YE provided. From '59-'62, they played two all-star games. That explains how Hammerin' Hank got 25 appearances in 21 years.

[Slap Shot]

[Greyeagle]

Amazing thing is he never hit 50 in a year. Just consistently dinged 40 plus over the course of 25 years. Not to mention he’s a 25 time all star from ‘55-‘75. Every single year. Hats off to a fallen legend.

It appears the money GE spent for YE's college education was well spent.

Apparently the same math was used to determine it's 'his' cabin.

[davescharf]

Amazing thing is he never hit 50 in a year. Just consistently dinged 40 plus over the course of 25 years. Not to mention he’s a 25 time all star from ‘55-‘75. Every single year. Hats off to a fallen legend.

It appears the money GE spent for YE's college education was well spent.

Apparently the same math was used to determine it's 'his' cabin.

Actually you’d better make sure he paid the right amount of property taxes. Would hate to see your reaction if it were all boarded up come summer

[frozen4champs]

[Cowgirl]

The who?

[grothm01]

Arenado traded to St. Louis.

[The Rube]

On Tweeter, Super 70s Sports declared that from 1997-2003, Pedro was the most dominant pitcher. I offered up Randy Johnson. Turned out, there is a lot of support for that argument. What say you?

[Beauner]

On Tweeter, Super 70s Sports declared that from 1997-2003, Pedro was the most dominant pitcher. I offered up Randy Johnson. Turned out, there is a lot of support for that argument. What say you?

Both were absolutely incredible, but I'd give the edge to Pedro because he did it in the AL where offenses are generally better (because they have the DH, and the NL continues to insist on 11% of their batting order being essentially an automatic out at least twice a game).
His 2000 season is maybe the best single season a pitcher has had in my (almost) 33 years of existence. 18-6 with a 1.74 ERA, 7 CG, 4 shutouts. He struck out 284 hitters and only allowed 170 to reach base safely (46 of them via walk/HBP). Those are like MVP Baseball on Rookie mode numbers.
5 times out of 7 years he lead the league in WHIP, and the two years he didn't he had WHIP of 0.934 and 1.091. His WORST ERA in that stretch was 2.89 which is insane, especially factoring in where he pitched (Fenway and the other AL East bandbox Yankee Stadium) and the fact that that was essentially peak juicing time.

Johnson's 1998 season before the trade was borderline poor (4.33 ERA in 20+ starts in Seattle) but he got traded to the NL and his numbers immediately went back to ungodly. To me, the most impressive thing about that time for Randy Johnson? He was 33 in 1997. He put up video game numbers for 6-7 years still.

[The Rube]

I really discount ERA, because that also relies on your team. WHIP is the true ERA, IMO, and I'm generally anti-analytic. That is what is really driving my question here, to be honest.

[YoungEagle]

On Tweeter, Super 70s Sports declared that from 1997-2003, Pedro was the most dominant pitcher. I offered up Randy Johnson. Turned out, there is a lot of support for that argument. What say you?

Both were absolutely incredible, but I'd give the edge to Pedro because he did it in the AL where offenses are generally better (because they have the DH, and the NL continues to insist on 11% of their batting order being essentially an automatic out at least twice a game).
His 2000 season is maybe the best single season a pitcher has had in my (almost) 33 years of existence. 18-6 with a 1.74 ERA, 7 CG, 4 shutouts. He struck out 284 hitters and only allowed 170 to reach base safely (46 of them via walk/HBP). Those are like MVP Baseball on Rookie mode numbers.
5 times out of 7 years he lead the league in WHIP, and the two years he didn't he had WHIP of 0.934 and 1.091. His WORST ERA in that stretch was 2.89 which is insane, especially factoring in where he pitched (Fenway and the other AL East bandbox Yankee Stadium) and the fact that that was essentially peak juicing time.

Johnson's 1998 season before the trade was borderline poor (4.33 ERA in 20+ starts in Seattle) but he got traded to the NL and his numbers immediately went back to ungodly. To me, the most impressive thing about that time for Randy Johnson? He was 33 in 1997. He put up video game numbers for 6-7 years still.

MVP Baseball 2005 was one of my favorite games of all time. I still have my old Xbox and play it occasionally!

[Bertogliat]

I really discount ERA, because that also relies on your team. WHIP is the true ERA, IMO, and I'm generally anti-analytic. That is what is really driving my question here, to be honest.

Then Greg Maddux is your man.

[Zwak]

I really discount ERA, because that also relies on your team. WHIP is the true ERA, IMO, and I'm generally anti-analytic. That is what is really driving my question here, to be honest.

Then Greg Maddux is your man.

Easily one of the most dominant pitchers of my adult lifetime.

[davescharf]

I really discount ERA, because that also relies on your team. WHIP is the true ERA, IMO, and I'm generally anti-analytic. That is what is really driving my question here, to be honest.

Then Greg Maddux is your man.

Maddux’s career WHIP is 1.143 and a career 3.16 ERA

I just looked at his stats again. In 1995 he went 19-2 with a 1.63 ERA in 209.2 innings in 28 starts. He had 10 complete games and a .811 WHIP

That’s a ridiculous season

[Zwak]

I really discount ERA, because that also relies on your team. WHIP is the true ERA, IMO, and I'm generally anti-analytic. That is what is really driving my question here, to be honest.

Then Greg Maddux is your man.

Maddux’s career WHIP is 1.143 and a career 3.16 ERA

I just looked at his stats again. In 1995 he went 19-2 with a 1.63 ERA in 209.2 innings in 28 starts. He had 10 complete games and a .811 WHIP

That’s a ridiculous season

Detailed pitch count data only goes back to 1988 but during his career Maddux had 13 complete game shutouts where he threw under 100 pitches.

[Bertogliat]

I really discount ERA, because that also relies on your team. WHIP is the true ERA, IMO, and I'm generally anti-analytic. That is what is really driving my question here, to be honest.

Then Greg Maddux is your man.

Maddux’s career WHIP is 1.143 and a career 3.16 ERA

I just looked at his stats again. In 1995 he went 19-2 with a 1.63 ERA in 209.2 innings in 28 starts. He had 10 complete games and a .811 WHIP

That’s a ridiculous season

He played a long time. He started young (20) and finished when he was 42. His numbers during his prime 1988-2002 were ridiculous. He didn't walk people.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/play ... gr01.shtml

[davescharf]

I really discount ERA, because that also relies on your team. WHIP is the true ERA, IMO, and I'm generally anti-analytic. That is what is really driving my question here, to be honest.

Then Greg Maddux is your man.

Maddux’s career WHIP is 1.143 and a career 3.16 ERA

I just looked at his stats again. In 1995 he went 19-2 with a 1.63 ERA in 209.2 innings in 28 starts. He had 10 complete games and a .811 WHIP

That’s a ridiculous season

He played a long time. He started young (20) and finished when he was 42. His numbers during his prime 1988-2002 were ridiculous. He didn't walk people.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/play ... gr01.shtml

Yeah - I wasn’t trying to refute your statement. The WHIP number is misleading because of his 23 years though because it’s 64th all time.

He was so much fun to watch in the 90s.

[Slap Shot]

That Braves staff as a whole was ridiculous at times. Maddox, Smoltz, Glavine, Avery...

[The Rube]

Maddux was so sick.

Pedro was very dominant, but it's not a slam-dunk case of being MOST dominant.

[frozen4champs]

I'm hearing the Twins came in a distant second

[davescharf]

Man that’s a lot of money for a pitcher that had a fantastic short season and a career 3.9 ERA

[Karlsson]

I'm hearing the Twins came in a distant second

This is great! When we face them in the World Series Kepler will go yard four or five times in that game.

[Beauner]

He's not worth that money in the AL and may not be worth that money outside the NL Central either.
He's a good pitcher but he's a douche and, as stated before, has basically had about 12 very good months in his career.

[frozen4champs]

[Bertogliat]

He's not worth that money in the AL and may not be worth that money outside the NL Central either.
He's a good pitcher but he's a douche and, as stated before, has basically had about 12 very good months in his career.

These contracts seem like self inflicted wounds for the owners, collectively. Has to make winning arbitration a bich. You’d think eventually they’ll set a cap.

[Beauner]

He's not worth that money in the AL and may not be worth that money outside the NL Central either.
He's a good pitcher but he's a douche and, as stated before, has basically had about 12 very good months in his career.

These contracts seem like self inflicted wounds for the owners, collectively. Has to make winning arbitration a bich. You’d think eventually they’ll set a cap.

The "cap" is a luxury tax basically. It's not cheap if you're over it. Even the Yankees and Red Sox have cut salaries to try to get underneath it. I can't remember the exact specifics but the longer time you spend over the luxury tax, the higher it goes.

[Maize]

Padres sign Fernando Tatis to a 14-year deal. To put that in perspective, by the time his contract ends, there will only be one year left on Bobby Bonilla's contract with the Mets.

[Cowgirl]

Padres sign Fernando Tatis to a 14-year deal. To put that in perspective, by the time his contract ends, there will only be one year left on Bobby Bonilla's contract with the Mets.

For $340 million.

To play a game.

[D2D]

Former Twins all-star Brian Dozier announces his retirement

Only 33, a little on the young side.
https://www.twincities.com/2021/02/18/f ... etirement/

[Bertogliat]

Padres sign Fernando Tatis to a 14-year deal. To put that in perspective, by the time his contract ends, there will only be one year left on Bobby Bonilla's contract with the Mets.

I thought you were kidding. I looked it up and you're not. Holy crap. Bonilla hasn't played since 2001 and will get paid $1.19M every July 1st until 2035.

All this to avoid paying him $5.9M in 2001.

[Steve MN]

Padres sign Fernando Tatis to a 14-year deal. To put that in perspective, by the time his contract ends, there will only be one year left on Bobby Bonilla's contract with the Mets.

I thought you were kidding. I looked it up and you're not. Holy crap. Bonilla hasn't played since 2001 and will get paid $1.19M every July 1st until 2035.

All this to avoid paying him $5.9M in 2001.

Bobby Bonilla day is a meme for a reason.

[JWG]

Brian Dozier announces his retirement.

[The Rube]

Padres sign Fernando Tatis to a 14-year deal. To put that in perspective, by the time his contract ends, there will only be one year left on Bobby Bonilla's contract with the Mets.

I thought you were kidding. I looked it up and you're not. Holy crap. Bonilla hasn't played since 2001 and will get paid $1.19M every July 1st until 2035.

All this to avoid paying him $5.9M in 2001.

As Steve said, Bobby Bonilla Day is a thing.

[Bertogliat]

Padres sign Fernando Tatis to a 14-year deal. To put that in perspective, by the time his contract ends, there will only be one year left on Bobby Bonilla's contract with the Mets.

I thought you were kidding. I looked it up and you're not. Holy crap. Bonilla hasn't played since 2001 and will get paid $1.19M every July 1st until 2035.

All this to avoid paying him $5.9M in 2001.

As Steve said, Bobby Bonilla Day is a thing.

I am admittedly not up to date on memes. I likely have seen Bonilla related memes and moved along because I wasn’t aware of the contract.

It approaches the Hershel Walker trade for stupidity.

[The Rube]

Honestly, I think it surpasses it. Vikes have moved on, Mets haven't.

[Beauner]

Padres sign Fernando Tatis to a 14-year deal. To put that in perspective, by the time his contract ends, there will only be one year left on Bobby Bonilla's contract with the Mets.

I thought you were kidding. I looked it up and you're not. Holy crap. Bonilla hasn't played since 2001 and will get paid $1.19M every July 1st until 2035.

All this to avoid paying him $5.9M in 2001.

As Steve said, Bobby Bonilla Day is a thing.

I am admittedly not up to date on memes. I likely have seen Bonilla related memes and moved along because I wasn’t aware of the contract.

It approaches the Hershel Walker trade for stupidity.

It was a whole mess of things that led up to the decision. They wanted to buy Bonilla out but wanted to keep the money to use it to try to keep contending at the time (they ended up using the money to sign Mike Hampton who won NLCS MVP for them the following season). So Bonilla and his agent met with Mets ownership to discuss a buyout. They agreed to a 10-year deferment on the 5.9 million owed, then paid at 8% interest over the following 25 years.
Bonilla was smart enough to say "hell yes" to that deal.
The Mets thought it was free money, as their ownership group had invested tons of money with Bernie Madoff and were promised big returns on that money. Obviously that did not come to fruition.

FWIW, lots of other athletes have taken deferred payments. Manny Ramirez is owed something like 15-20 million still by the Red Sox. Supposedly a lot of teams try to get players to take deferred money. Many of them say no. They'd rather have the money up front and invest it (or do other things with it) instead for higher return on investment.

[Beauner]

Honestly, I think it surpasses it. Vikes have moved on, Mets haven't.

It's not like 1.2 million a year is crippling them. They got a trip to the World Series on the back of a pitcher they signed with money they didn't pay Bonilla.

[Bertogliat]

Honestly, I think it surpasses it. Vikes have moved on, Mets haven't.

It's not like 1.2 million a year is crippling them. They got a trip to the World Series on the back of a pitcher they signed with money they didn't pay Bonilla.

Exactly. Dallas turned the 6 draft picks from the Vikings into Emmitt Smith (HOF), Russell Maryland (10 yr career), Kevin Smith (9 year career) and Darren Woodson (potential HOF) and won 3 Super Bowls in 4 years.

The Vikings were a good team back then and were looking at Hershel to get them over the hump. Instead they got mediocrity and missed out on some important draft picks. Imagine drafting Emmitt Smith instead of trading for Hershel Walker.....Dang.

Only the New Orleans trade to move up for Ricky Williams was worse IMO.

[Karlsson]

Padres sign Fernando Tatis to a 14-year deal. To put that in perspective, by the time his contract ends, there will only be one year left on Bobby Bonilla's contract with the Mets.

I thought you were kidding. I looked it up and you're not. Holy crap. Bonilla hasn't played since 2001 and will get paid $1.19M every July 1st until 2035.

All this to avoid paying him $5.9M in 2001.

As Steve said, Bobby Bonilla Day is a thing.

I am admittedly not up to date on memes. I likely have seen Bonilla related memes and moved along because I wasn’t aware of the contract.

It approaches the Hershel Walker trade for stupidity.

Speaking of Tatis and dumb trades, go check out what the White Sox got for him.

[Beauner]

Padres sign Fernando Tatis to a 14-year deal. To put that in perspective, by the time his contract ends, there will only be one year left on Bobby Bonilla's contract with the Mets.

I thought you were kidding. I looked it up and you're not. Holy crap. Bonilla hasn't played since 2001 and will get paid $1.19M every July 1st until 2035.

All this to avoid paying him $5.9M in 2001.

As Steve said, Bobby Bonilla Day is a thing.

I am admittedly not up to date on memes. I likely have seen Bonilla related memes and moved along because I wasn’t aware of the contract.

It approaches the Hershel Walker trade for stupidity.

Speaking of Tatis and dumb trades, go check out what the White Sox got for him.

I broken down that trade earlier this summer (i think I shared it here too). Mind blowing.

[Bertogliat]

Ooof. That is bad.

[gopher6]

Yankee’s manager to have surgery to get pacemaker
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/309 ... -pacemaker

[frozen4champs]

[frozen4champs]

[Border Gopher]

Slide, Miggy, slide!

[Hobey Baker]

MLB to move All Star game out of Atlanta.

[Bigbeer]

MLB to move All Star game out of Atlanta.

[Bertogliat]

I made some banana pancakes for breakfast today. So good.

[Bigbeer]

I made some banana pancakes for breakfast today. So good.

Dude! Breaking from the banana theme but just I made some deviled eggs with sriracha and pickle juice (amongst other things) in the yolk...phenomenal.

[Beauner]

[gopher6]

Allstar game moved to Coors Field
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/312 ... ources-say

[Beauner]

Interesting topic/discussion in these two tweets about the state of the game with regards to strikeouts etc.

[streakygopher]

Interesting topic/discussion in these two tweets about the state of the game with regards to strikeouts etc.

I wouldn't have been able to cite the statistics, but as a lifetime fan of major league baseball I know that mid 90s fastballs were a rarity in the game - which made pitchers at the time like Gibson, Gossage, Ryan et. al. so unique. Now those same pitchers are the guys who tickle 100 mph. (Ryan was a freak even by today's standards.)

There may be a time in that it's necessary to move the mound back 6" or lower it slightly, which is probably more likely.

[Slap Shot]

I'm no expert but per that tweet the average ERA has more or less gone up every year since 2014.

[Beauner]

It has.
That likely has to do with the increased power of pitchers and offenses focus on OPS. The BABIP has largely been static (between .291 and .297) since 2010. But with power numbers going up (both hitting and pitching), the balls in play are more frequently going for extra bases or over the fence. The HR/Fly ball percentage has gone up year over year since 2015 as pitch velo has jumped up and guys are focusing more on hitting it hard rather than making contact (ground ball percentage is down, too).

[The Rube]

For those of you who have watched the documentary "Fastball," people at MIT used stats and fastball tests from the past, which all used different points of measurement during the pitch (depending on the era), matched them up to get a consistent reading and measurement of speed (as in, who threw the fastest fastball of all time).

It was Nolan Ryan, at 108mph, and IIRC the documentary said he hit that in the 8th or 9th inning of a game.

[The Rube]

Padres get their first no-hitter in franchise history. Yeah.

[davescharf]

Padres get their first no-hitter in franchise history. Yeah.

And not from the guy you’d expect in that rotation

[The Rube]

[Beauner]

This made me laugh