Classic Conversation Thread

[Water Bottle]

3 hours ago, Porthos said:

I miss Bud Selig. 

 

I never thought I'd utter those words, but there you are.

 

(It's come to the point where I think to myself "At least they're not banning the shift")

((But then I think about the cockamamie shit they're trying in the Atlantic League and I get depressed all over again)) 

 

What's wrong with those rules? 

[Porthos]

29 minutes ago, Water Bottle said:

 

What's wrong with those rules? 

Not allowing position players to pitch unless under certain circumstances is clumsy and ham-fisted.  Un Fun, as well.

 

More to the point, how the heck are position players supposed to qualify to become pitching eligible in the first place?  It only really allows pitchers to become semi-regular position players while still keeping pitching eligibility.  That is, unless they were brought up in the minors as a dual threat.

 

I suppose it might be defined on a game-by-game basis, which might make a tad more sense (as it allows players to meet a qualification in season).  But it's a needless complication to a problem that barely exists.

 

The three-batter minimum is more a matter of principle, but I can see situations where a reliever obviously doesn't have any good stuff but 'forced' to face three batters anyway.

 

It's also a sign that instead of dealing with the fundamental problems of baseball (blackouts and tanking) they want to try to juice offense as much as possible. 

 

I made the quip about banning defensive shifts and fucking with extra inning rules, but mark my words, they're coming unless there is an immense pushback against those two particular ideas.  All because Rob Manfred and co would rather try to fundamentally change the way the game is played than look at the structural problems that exist off the field.

 

Baseball isn't football where you need to change the rules each and every year. And it's a mostly healthy sport.  The problems with attendance and interest, IMO, can be laid directly at the feet of the arcane/outdated blackout rules and the tanking mantra that is seeping more and more into baseball.

And all the rules designed to bolster offense (and make no mistake Rob Manfred is a zealot on this front) ain't gonna change that.

 

 

Edited March 14, 2019 by Porthos

[Plain Old Tele]

Consider that it’s a one-batter minimum right now and they’re just extending that a bit. 

[Porthos]

20 minutes ago, Telemachos said:

Consider that it’s a one-batter minimum right now and they’re just extending that a bit. 

I can be talked into the three-batter minimum.  Barely.  That's why I called it more a matter of principle than anything else. I'll grouse and grumble under my breath, but I'll mostly ignore it an move on.

 

But my biggest gripe really is that the people who run baseball either don't understand what is wrong right now or, worse, are unwilling to admit what is wrong.

 

Maybe if they weren't trying all those crazy things down in the Atlantic League, I'd be more sanguine about all of this.  But I am convinced this is just the start of more drastic and unnecessary changes.

Edited March 14, 2019 by Porthos

[Porthos]

To put this another way, fucking with the rules of the game is easy.  At worst, you get punters like me complaining, and who cares about that?

 

But dealing with blackout rules, draft pick restrictions on the luxury tax (something I didn't mention but one of the causes of the barren FA market IMO), and tanking in general?  That deals with the owners pocketbooks and thus a LOT harder to deal with.

 

And I haven't seen much sign that Rob Manfred is willing to look at any of those problems. At most, I might see draft picks looked at, as GMs don't like losing them and removing a way to lose them is relatively easier to negotiate. 

 

But the other stuff?

 

Well, I'm heartened to hear that the PA and owners are at least going to start talking right now.  I'm just not all that convinced that necessary changes are coming in that direction.  Especially since tanking is a really hard nut to try to crack.  No sport has really figured out how to stop it yet once it starts to take root.

[Plain Old Tele]

Blackout rules are the worst. Total outdated trash. I’m with ya there.

 

Pay minor league players a decent wage. Also totally with ya, the MLBPA isn’t serving their future clients well at all there. 

 

Re: the new gameplay rules, I guess I'm in the “let’s see how it actually affects games” camp, being cautiously positive they’ll be a net good. 

[TwoMisfits]

13 minutes ago, Telemachos said:

Blackout rules are the worst. Total outdated trash. I’m with ya there.

 

Pay minor league players a decent wage. Also totally with ya, the MLBPA isn’t serving their future clients well at all there. 

 

Re: the new gameplay rules, I guess I'm in the “let’s see how it actually affects games” camp, being cautiously positive they’ll be a net good. 

I agree with this...except I'm in the leaning negative, but keeping my mind open, on the rules...I admit that having a relief pitcher get swapped every batter sucks when you are actually at a ballpark entertaining kids...at home, you can get up and go do something else for the 3 minutes...but still, the strategy used sometimes sucked as much fun out of the game as these might, so I can be down with that one more...although it's game-effecting, and if I'm cheering my playoff team and we have the pitcher with nothing come in, and he gets rocked for those 3 hitters, I'm gonna be pissed...so, very wishy-washy on this til I see it...

 

But, not letting a position player pitch?  C'mon, the whole point is that it's usually a stunt to liven up a game for a crowd...I hadn't sensed it was being used to an embarrassing degree, so let baseball, which has a LONG history of stunts of all types to get fans excited, keep the stunt in the game:)...

Edited March 14, 2019 by TwoMisfits

[Plain Old Tele]

^^ I think the strategy will evolve slightly so you’ll need to have pitchers who you’re comfortable taking on three batters in a row. Which... seems somewhat reasonable? Keeping some dude around just cuz he’s got a weird windup that manages good splits against *some* batters is so arbitrary. 

 

The trend of using 3 or 4 or sometimes even 5 pitchers an inning to grind through 3 outs is just miserable. I think this plus the pitch clock should help things, although honestly most of the time the delays seem like it’s the batter’s issue, not the pitcher’s.

 

I think teams’ll find ways to have a position player pitch here and there. The new rule seems pretty convoluted, granted — presumably to avoid teams trying to game the 3-batter minimum. And hey, maybe they’ll try to game it by sticking a pitcher out in the field temporarily. Which opens up the possibility of all sorts of stupid awesomeness. 

[DAR]

4 hours ago, Porthos said:

I miss Bud Selig. 

 

I never thought I'd utter those words, but there you are.

 

(It's come to the point where I think to myself "At least they're not banning the shift")

((But then I think about the cockamamie shit they're trying in the Atlantic League and I get depressed all over again)) 

Bud Selig fought to keep baseball in this city. I will never utter a bad word

[dxmatrixdt]

.

Edited March 14, 2019 by Slave Animal Rights

[Water Bottle]

1 hour ago, Telemachos said:

Consider that it’s a one-batter minimum right now and they’re just extending that a bit. 

 

Oh really? So I can still bring a crappy closing pitcher in MLB The Show to give him a save to complete a program to get a good closing pitcher? Cool. 

 

I'm fine with this rule change then.

[dxmatrixdt]

2 hours ago, Water Bottle said:

 

What's wrong with those rules? 

 

22 minutes ago, DAR said:

Bud Selig fought to keep baseball in this city. I will never utter a bad word

 

4 minutes ago, Water Bottle said:

 

Oh really? So I can still bring a crappy closing pitcher in MLB The Show to give him a save to complete a program to get a good closing pitcher? Cool. 

 

I'm fine with this rule change then.

 

[dxmatrixdt]

Bachelor Nation Has Mixed Reactions

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/hannah-brown-named-bachelorette-bachelor-023346903.html

[Verrows]

Hi everyone I'm new here! I was referred by a friend (Hey @JB33!!). I love movies and I am just learning about the whole box office thing.

 

Quick question....why can't I upload a profile photo?

[Jake Gittes]

1 minute ago, Verrows said:

Hi everyone I'm new here! I was referred by a friend (Hey @JB33!!). I love movies and I am just learning about the whole box office thing.

 

Quick question....why can't I upload a profile photo?

file size too big maybe?

[Brainbug]

12 minutes ago, Verrows said:

Hi everyone I'm new here! I was referred by a friend (Hey @JB33!!). I love movies and I am just learning about the whole box office thing.

 

Quick question....why can't I upload a profile photo?

 

File size and as @Nero could tell you, you need a definite amount of posts to upload one ( i think 10).

Edited March 15, 2019 by Brainbug

[Verrows]

16 minutes ago, Brainbug said:

 

File size and as @Nero could tell you, you need a definite amount of posts to upload one ( i think 10).

There it is! Thats my problem. It's not the file size thing because I didn't even get that far.

 

Anyway thanks guys! Looking forward to some good discussion here.

[TwoMisfits]

16 minutes ago, Verrows said:

There it is! Thats my problem. It's not the file size thing because I didn't even get that far.

 

Anyway thanks guys! Looking forward to some good discussion here.

Welcome to the boards and your 1st liked post of many:)...

[dxmatrixdt]

1 hour ago, Slave Animal Rights said:

Bachelor Nation Has Mixed Reactions

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/hannah-brown-named-bachelorette-bachelor-023346903.html

 

are they going to be enough?

[Cap]

I can't believe I just had to argue with a broker about their seller putting smoke detectors in a house.  She was like, "he's fussy" and I'm like THEN GO STICK THEM IN YOURSELF.