2009 MLB Thread (1 Viewer)

[Mike Frezon]

And we must keep in mind, although some would say it's easy-to-forget, that the Rays were AL champs last year!

And, that's one of the reasons Commissioner Frezon would eliminate interleague play. The Rays (and all other AL East/West teams) should have to play in Cleveland more than three games a year!

 

[MarkHastings]

Uh oh! Commissioner Frezon is going to have a hard time swallowing a computerized ump.

But I agree to an extent; I'd like to see a way of correcting bad ump calls, but every way (that I can imagine) just seems like a bad idea:

1) Computerized umps? That just feels wrong. Do we get rid of the ump all together? Or if he stays in, do you want to disrespect him by overturning his calls?

2) Allowing players/managers to "challenge" the call? I have a feeling that would slow the game up, unless you can work out something like 1 challenge per game? or how about like Football where if the challenge is overruled, the team gets penalized so that a player can't challenge every pitch.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Any part of that would be so ugly to the game I couldn't even begin to imagine it.

I'm already hating all the instant replay rulings on the HR calls. :frowning:

I hear the crowd who says, "but they're getting the calls right!" But I also hear now those who are calling for stuff like in Mark's post.

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EDIT** If Jason's system ever came to pass, I'd field a whole team of Eddie Gaedels and Manute Bols as quickly as I could!

 

[Jason Seaver]

How would this have a bigger effect on robot umps than the fleshy variety?

 

[Mike Frezon]

Then I'll have to go to Plan B: cattle prods. They would work on umpires of batteries and wire as well as those of flesh and blood!

 

[MarkHastings]

Oh boy, then how do you handle the fans who say the automated system doesn't work right, or what about people 'hacking' into the system or if rain would interfere with it. LOL

But I do get what you're saying and as much as I hate to see the human element stripped from the game, I do like the idea of using technology to get the calls right. I wanted to see something like this put on the hockey rinks and the football fields to help the refs determine whether a puck/ball crossed the goal line when it's virtually impossible to see with the naked eye; whether it be a goal tenders glove over the puck as it JUST crosses the line, or whether it's a quarter back sneak where the ball is under a pile of guys.

 

[MarkHastings]

I want to see the umps wearing a helmet with two lights on top. For a strike, the red light flashes...for a ball; green.

 

[Mike Frezon]

It would be much more fun if the umpires wore hats like this:

 

[Jason Seaver]

Well, you'll notice I didn't say I'd implement it right away; there would be a lot of R&D put into it, beta testing it for an entire season before going live, comparing it to PitchFX and every other system being used to track the trajectory of pitches currently in use, and working with the umpires to make sure that it worked. Then I'd go completely open-source with the results, if not the actual code - after every game, fans can download all the pitch-tracking data, see if it syncs up with the local broadcast, etc. It would be like PitchFX on steroids.

Let's face it - in a lot of markets, we're already getting this; the NESN broadcast shows the umps up a lot by showing where they've got the ball crossing the front line of the plate. MLB GameDay shows the ball's complete path from the pitcher's hand to the plate. PitchFX data is out there. Obviously, if MLB were to switch to using automated ball-strike calls, they'd have to come up with a system that is better than all of them, but I think we're awfully close to it being practical.

And I think once it is, there's no excuse not to. For instance, Milton Bradley has recently been complaining that he's getting a Buick-sized strike zone because he's vocal with his displeasure at times. We shouldn't have to even entertain the thought that he might be right, or that one team is at a disadvantage because they're starting a rookie against a veteran.

 

[MarkHastings]

You could build that into your code where the strike zone gets bigger when it detects displeasure in the batters voice.

 

[TonyD]

"When he hits that ball in the middle of the bat there on that sweet spot,
there 's no park in the league that can hold his balls in."

Gary Matthews tonight on Ryan Howard.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Stengel couldn't have said it better!

 

[Brian Perry]

There aren't many things I would change, but there are a couple:

- No fielder's indifference -- if a runner steals a base, he should get credit regardless of the fielders' inaction.
- Give the team with the best regular season record an automatic win in the first game of the playoffs (in other words, they start the series with a 1-0 advantage). Despite the regular season being 162 games long, the team with the best record is rewarded very little for that accomplishment.
- Change the formula for ERA to more fairly allocate the blame. The pitcher who allows a batter to reach first base (who later scores) would be charged with 1/4 of a run and the relief pitcher who allowed him to go from 1st to home would get hit for 3/4 of the run, and so forth.
- And, of course, eliminate the DH.

 

[MarkHastings]

What do you mean? You don't consider home field advantage enough of a reward??

I mean, the 1st place team already has the advantage of being great. Take the Yankees in the late 90's (and early 2000's); the last thing we needed to do was to give them an extra win. That just leads to a team dominating even more so (i.e. more World Series wins = More money to spend on players).

Then how do the other teams in that division compete? It's lop sided enough without giving the 'better' team more advantages. I say give the worse teams more of an advantage.


EDIT: Brian, I see you're a Cubs fan....now I know why you want to give the division winner more of an advantage. OK, you guys can have it, but keep that rule out of the AL East please!!! LOL

 

[Marvin]

Or if you're the Marlins, more World Series wins = more fire sales.

Anyway, if I were the commissioner, in addition to eliminating the evil axis of the DH, interleague play and artificial turf, I'd seek a constituional amendment stating that you can assume the double play.

 

[mattCR]

A deserved arrest comes through:

Man indicted for death of Angels? Adenhart - Baseball- nbcsports.msnbc.com

Hopefully some justice will be done.

In KC, Greinke continues to be just unbelievable. We're through 10 starts, he has a sub-1 ERA (.84) and the lowest walk ratio in the league. It's freakish what's going on there. In a not-so-good way, while he's 9-1, the rest of the team is sucking it. If it wasn't for his 9-1, the Royals would be 8 games under .500. Think about that :frowning:

 

[EricW]

Buck Martinez had a good idea for the playoffs; the wildcard team should only get 1 home game in the first round.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

I'll listen to Buck Martinez once he figures out how to pronounce "Ortiz."

 

[Mike Frezon]

Honestly, I don't see any reason to "punish" the wildcard team. If MLB creates a wildcard system, why handicap it?

 

[Marvin]

Same here. If the idea of a wild card team winning the World Series is so disagreeable, why not just get rid of it?

More often than not, the second place in the strongest division is a better team than the first place team in some other division.