2016 MLB Season Thread Baseball • Page 183

Gallo recalled and starting at 1st.

 

Afterwards he told a reporter he blanked or misunderstood or something and was told he has to be a good person and a good neighbor.

Or something.

 

Hopefully the Rangers dont mess around with Gallo this time. Calling him up for one at bat earlier this year was pretty messed up.

 

Pap blowing another save, yay!

 

Heartbreaking loss. Get a closer, Rizzo.

 

The only silver lining of the Cubs losing today was not having to see the Chris Brown of baseball pitch for us yet.

 

I just got a notification that you quoted my message in this thread even though I've never posted in here, haha.

 

So happy to see Skaggs back. The silver lining of the tommy John madness of the Angels rotation this season.

 

Haha sorry about that. For some reason there was an old quote thing that I never deleted I guess and I didn't notice til I made a post. My b.

 

Drew storen + cash for Benoit is a real trade that happened

 

Love Correa but he needs to hold off on a beard for a few years lol.

 

Ok, so I've been meaning to ask some questions since I randomly decided to start watching baseball like 2 weeks ago. Mind you, the only other time I seriously followed baseball was in elementary school when I was super into the Orioles during the 1996-1998 seasons. I've been wondering a few things...

1. How many Wild Card spots are there? And is the WC a series or is it a one-of game?
2. What is the "shift?"
3. Why do each of the leagues have specifics about DH's/pitchers batting? Seems super random to me.
4. Perhaps the one I'm most confused about: how the hell does the minor league/calling players up thing work? Is it like the practice squad in the NFL? The Mariners have the Tacoma Rainiers, so do they just groom players down there only to level them up at some point? And then they can get sent back down?
5. What's the draft like? Are there any sure-fire good picks? Do they come out of college? I seriously never even thought about college baseball being like a serious thing.

I know I could google this mess or just read wikipedia but I'd rather ask y'all peeps.

 

1) Each league has 2 WC...so 4 in total. they play a 1 game play-in game.
2) Shift is when a team decides to move fielders all on one side of the field because they know a certain batter statistically ONLY hits that way for the most time
3) History. Tradition. the DH was added in 1973 in the AL to improve offense in an era where runs were hard to get. The AL/NL never used to play each other so having different rules was fine. Both leagues have fans who prefer their way of playing.
4) There's a STARK difference in skill level between "okay baseball players" and "pro baseball players"...the minor league system is in place to weed out the pretenders and the real players. A team can move a player and up and down whenever they want. If they feel a guy is ready for the next level they move them up and vice versa if they feel they need to improve.
5) The amateur draft consists of players from college, high school, and international players. There are no sure-fire picks in baseball...but you can say that about any sport.

 

This is a great response, but just one thing to clarify: only players from the US, Canada, and Puerto Rico are included in the amateur draft. All other international players are under a different set of rules encompassed within the international signing period.

I had to google this to get a grip on it. This is a good primer on international signings and the rules. Absolutely not crucial to understanding baseball.

 

I admit I was unsure of that part of that too so thanks

 

Someone brought up a really good point on the Ringer MLB podcast. How did Jersey Mikes let Mike Trout become a spokesman for Subway.

 

People tend to fall in love with 'top prospects' and I think it's absurd. Baseball is different than basketball and football where it takes a LOT longer for baseball players to develop. You get drafted and then you go through Class A (sometimes two class A's) then Double A and Triple A, it can take years upon years upon years for a top draft pick to finally get into the Majors and then he still has to prove himself at the highest level. I find it funny when teams in a pennant race aren't willing to part ways with a 'top prospect' for a player that will help them win NOW knowing that really, most prospects are a crap shoot. You really do never know.

I'm a die-hard Indians fan and that's all I ever hear about is prospects, prospects, prospects. Hardly any of them actually pan out (although we got super lucky with Lindor - who is a STUD). Our Farm system does have some 'top prospects' in Frazier, Bradley, Zimmer and now Benson but I'd have NO problem trading any one of them for a proven MLB hitter or pitcher this season to help us win a World Series THIS year.

 

To me there's a huge difference between Corey seager and a 19yr old like Torres who's still thin and not fully mature. As a whole though, I completely agree. Some guys dont even become successful in the majors until their late 20s. That all being said the process has gotten better and better over time and I feel like scouts judge prospects better than they have (like someone else said) 20yrs ago.

 

The flip side is when rentals go poorly. The Braves' trade for Teixeira awhile back stung when Elvis Andrus ended up being a productive big leaguer over the next several years and then Teixeira bolted after not winning a ring. So after that, I've always been skeptical of those kinds of trades, unless it's for a superstar under team control. Likewise, I don't really want to trade anything of note to get a Jeremy Hellickson type player that doesn't really move the needle.

 

Give us all your top prospects for Jeffress

 

They're gonna get hella overload from this lucroy trade

 

I agree. Look at Trevor Bauer. He was a top prospect for a while and eventually was a cast off in a trade because he couldnt put it together. Eventually though he was able to hang in the majors and now is a serviceable rotation arm. Another thing I think people get caught up on is so-and-so is rated #12 by BA, BP, ESPN etc, but not looking at why they are rated that. Someone might be rated high, but it is because they are a high floor low ceiling player, where they know they can be a regular starter for a few years, where others around him might be low floor high ceiling that might be a superstar and might be Delmon Young.

 

I feel like I've been waiting for Lucroy to be traded for 2-3 years now.


Looks like the Sox might be able to get lucky on a Shields trade, if anyone bites:

 

I feel like the rays will trade 0 pitchers and trade like two hitters cause of course lol