Desipio Message Board

Scott Hutchison, frontman of Frightened Rabbit, dead at 36. Goddamn. This one sucks.

Quote from: SKO on May 09, 2018, 11:39:03 AM

Quote from: Saul Goodman on May 09, 2018, 11:20:35 AM
I've come around on this too, mostly because Russell continues to regress. This team is in win-now mode; he can go try to figure it out in Baltimore while Machado slides in at SS. GET IT DONE THEO

It's pretty simple:

Plan A) Machado Rental, Sign Harper:
2018: Contreras C, Rizzo 1B, Baez 2B, Machado SS, Bryant 3B, Schwarber LF, HappMora CF, HeyZo RF
2019: Contreras C, Rizzo 1B, Happ 2B, Baez SS, Bryant 3B, Schwarber LF, HeyMora CF, Harper RF

Plan B)Machado extension
See the 2018 lineup above.

Either way no one misses Addison Russell

What is the story on Machado's defense at SS? I shockingly do not follow the Orioles too closely, so other than knowing that his glove played well at 3B the last few years, I'm not sure what the consensus is on Machado sticking at SS long-term.

Do any of the internet websites track which offenses are the highest/lowest variance? An offense that scores 9 runs one day and then 3 days the next would (you think) win less games than a hypothetical offense that scores 6 runs on both days. Wondering if the Cubs seemingly dramatic swings in production are actually that dramatic as compared to the rest of the league.

I think Heyward's sudden inability to catch the ball might be the single thing I'm most mad about so far this season. The offense will come around, there's no way the pitching staff can continue to walk this many guys (can they?), but the overall shitty defense so far is infuriating.

Quote from: SKO on May 03, 2018, 11:12:59 AM

Quote from: R-V on May 03, 2018, 10:48:09 AM

Quote from: SKO on May 02, 2018, 03:46:14 PM
I don't really think there's anything wrong here other than that he has no fastball command right now. The only problem is I don't know how that gets fixed if they don't know why it's happening?

I've seen some folks on the tubes suggest that Gimenez come up to play Yu's caddie and I'm cool with that. Caratini isn't really getting enough action to continue his development and giving Yu a security blanket probably isn't the worst idea in the world.

Yeah I mean I think that's fine and can't hurt to try, but it really doesn't seem like sequencing or pitch calling is the issue here. In fact I thought Willson and Yu were smart against the Brewers to mix and match and basically just ditch the 4 seam entirely. Still, you can only get away without throwing a fastball for strikes for so long. Our good friend Trueblood pointed out that Yu's release point this year is down 3-4 inches from last year which is kind of a big dip and probably what he needs to fix. I doubt a catch fixes that.

Given how wild Yu has been, it also might help to have a catcher back there who's *not* the worst in the majors at framing pitches.

Quote from: SKO on May 02, 2018, 03:46:14 PM
I don't really think there's anything wrong here other than that he has no fastball command right now. The only problem is I don't know how that gets fixed if they don't know why it's happening?

I've seen some folks on the tubes suggest that Gimenez come up to play Yu's caddie and I'm cool with that. Caratini isn't really getting enough action to continue his development and giving Yu a security blanket probably isn't the worst idea in the world.

Quote from: Tonker on April 23, 2018, 04:02:12 PM

Quote from: Yeti on April 23, 2018, 08:26:10 AM

Quote from: Saul Goodman on April 23, 2018, 01:42:52 AM
Hearing how irritated the Rockies announcers got by Javy's counter-sign stealing measures, I hope he does it every time they play Colorado from now on.

I love how one of them says "Anyhow, even if he's attempting to, that's part of the game. And if you do steal signs, shame on you." So, which is it?

They did say that, but if you listen to the next sentence it is clear that "shame on you" meant "shame on you for having such simple signs that they can easily be stolen".

Which is not to say that they shouldn't get to fuck, of course.

This is all very simple: shame on the Cubs if they are so inept that their signs can be stolen, and also shame on the Cubs for preventing their signs from being stolen.

Looking into a streaming TV option like Youtube TV or Direct TV Now. Does anybody use these? It looks like CSN and local ABC affiliate are included, so I assume I'd get those Cubs games - is the local WGN feed (not the crappy WGN America) thing included in any of these so I could get those games?

Quote from: SKO on April 05, 2018, 11:28:41 AM

Quote from: R-V on April 05, 2018, 11:21:26 AM

Quote from: SKO on April 05, 2018, 10:34:27 AMI really do find it funny that there has to be some kind of higher relationship with a sports team than "mad they lost, happy they won." I'm obviously perfectly rational and happy to discuss stats and stuff between games but in the end if the point is not to have some kind of emotional reaction to the actual events of the games themselves I gotta say I don't get it. You know they're not your friends, right? They don't care about or acknowledge your existence, you don't owe them anything. Yell at them when they lose or yell at everyone yelling at them when they lose, in the end you make no difference here.

I mean at the end of the day nothing we do makes any difference, we're all farts in the wind eventually. The point is not that you can't or shouldn't get mad when your team loses. It's that trying to draw some greater meaning about where the season is headed out of a meaningless sample size (Happ should be benched because of his K rate...Lester might be done...Heyward is clearly bad again) is a waste of breath.

I mean most of the time my twitter account is just "fuck. shit, goddamit, that sucks" if you can see me drawing making any proclamations like the above, fine. I mean the Heyward thing I am going to wait until he has sustained success before I change my default opinion that he sucks ass. I think I may have called for Happ to get a day off but not end up benched, he was clearly just pressing too hard there for a bit. There's just a default attitude among a large chunk of Cubs Twitter that basically anyone who dares get mad at the outcome of a single baseball game is a moron. I'm a moron, but that's not why.

I wasn't talking about you specifically, just general Twitter stuff. And yes that's on me to stop following people who chap my balls.

Quote from: SKO on April 05, 2018, 10:34:27 AMI really do find it funny that there has to be some kind of higher relationship with a sports team than "mad they lost, happy they won." I'm obviously perfectly rational and happy to discuss stats and stuff between games but in the end if the point is not to have some kind of emotional reaction to the actual events of the games themselves I gotta say I don't get it. You know they're not your friends, right? They don't care about or acknowledge your existence, you don't owe them anything. Yell at them when they lose or yell at everyone yelling at them when they lose, in the end you make no difference here.

I mean at the end of the day nothing we do makes any difference, we're all farts in the wind eventually. The point is not that you can't or shouldn't get mad when your team loses. It's that trying to draw some greater meaning about where the season is headed out of a meaningless sample size (Happ should be benched because of his K rate...Lester might be done...Heyward is clearly bad again) is a waste of breath.

Joe Sheehan wrote a newsletter just for Cubs Twitter today.

QuoteI spent my Tuesday deflecting questions from well-intentioned radio hosts intent upon gleaning meaning from the first five days of the season. As much as I enjoy having baseball back, and have particularly enjoyed the way the schedule has been spread out, allowing us to watch games for 10-12 hours a day on many days in the early going, that's what it is: enjoyment. It's about getting back into that rhythm, and watching our game, our favorite players, our new favorites. Storylines are out there -- the new managers up and down the eastern seaboard, the two-way player in Anaheim, the death of the ground ball -- but you're not going to be able to reach meaningful conclusions about any of it five days in.

I'm a stickler for this, even as coverage of baseball more and more resembles that of the NFL, all breathless reaction, all an endless race to be first with a conclusion. Baseball demands patience, and then when you think you've waited long enough, it demands more patience. We watched a team win 104 games last season, post the best record in baseball...and lose 16 of 17 games at one point along the way. The NL MVP started the year with one extra-base hit and no homers in his first seven games. The AL Cy Young Award winner had a 5.06 ERA in six starts as May came to a close.

Even our ability to measure inputs down to the tenth of an MPH or a degree has to be tempered by patience. Just because a particular displayed skill stabilizes quickly doesn't mean 30 pitches or 15 balls in play are enough to form a conclusion. Sometimes that information points to a meaningful change in a player's skill set, or even an injury. Sometimes, it's just noise created by a bad night's sleep, or a hitter seeing the right set of pitches to drive. Players are not Statcast-generating robots any more than they are stat-generating robots.

Maybe I'm just the old, wagging his finger as he looks out upon his neatly-manicured lawn. I'll live with that if so, but this trend, this need to NFLize baseball coverage, is the least attractive thing about what is really a golden era for baseball writing. Let the season breathe.

Quote from: Huey Potatohead on February 26, 2018, 04:15:43 PM

Quote from: R-V on February 26, 2018, 04:10:56 PM
In the last 50 years, there have been 5 Cubs teams that scored 800+ runs. Can Huey name all of them?

2017
2016
2008
1984
1969
?

3 out of 5 ain't bad:

2008   855 runs
1998   831 runs
2017   822 runs
2016   808 runs
1970   806 runs

1984 checks in at #10 with 762 runs
1969 is way down at #15 with 720 runs

It's still interesting to me that the 2017 group outscored the 2016 team that had Fower at the top and a healthy/productive Zobrist.

In the last 50 years, there have been 5 Cubs teams that scored 800+ runs. Can Huey name all of them?

Quote from: SKO on February 19, 2018, 09:07:42 PM

Quote from: Yeti on February 19, 2018, 06:55:05 PM
... the excessive social media love by (as I've observed by their previous postings) progressives for Black Panther feels a little too much of "Look at me, the Progressive, I like a movie with a black lead and balck director."

Maybe there's some awesomeness about this character/story that nerds will educate me on, but it feels like people are trying too hard

Just tired of hearing about it's blickety blackness are we

There's the Yeti Classic^TM material this website has been missing.

Thinking about playing time in terms of plate appearances rather than platoons, you can get everyone who matters to 500 PA's if you just parcel out Jay's playing time from last year:



Managing is easy. All you need is a spreadsheet.