Winning 84 games while scoring fewer runs than they allowed is tremendously lucky. It’s a Pythagorean record of 78-84. Projecting them for 83.5 wins is suggesting they’ll be better.
The Rangers were +13 compared to their pythag record last year. Now that’s tremendously lucky!
I’m also not super confident the Yankees can actually count on much better performances from Brett Gardner and Jacoby Ellsbury:
- Both are 33 years old.
- Gardner’s 2016 wasn’t really a whole lot different from the two years he had before. He hit a lot fewer home runs, but his OBP was actually better and he was otherwise the same guy he usually is. I don’t know why he’d be much better.
- Ellsbury had a better 2016 than he did a 2015. He’s never been a great player in New York and there’s no reason to believe he’ll start now.
- Some of the Yankees’ success is attributable to guys they traded late in the year.
- Where’s the pitching?
To be honest I think it’s a damn miracle they won as many games as they did. Joe Girardi is a wizard.
The Mets were in a televised Spring Training game today on MLB TV. Tim Tebow grounded into a run-scoring double play to tie the game. He earned a standing ovation from the crowd at First Data Field.
Fuck you, Tim Tebow. And you as well, ESPN. Pop into the bar for an after work cold beer and they’re blabbing about this talentless hack’s stupid attention stunt.
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In other news, Michigan plane slides off runway during departure to Big Ten tournament. :eek:
Atlanta’s racing to the bottom of the Grapefruit standings. Somebody call me when the rebuilding is over. I realize I can’t be too upset with a team that has only had 5 losing seasons since I discovered baseball, and some incredible players in that span, but sheesh, it’s getting hard…
As a former long-suffering Cubs fan, last postseason doesn’t even feel real yet. I doubt that they’ll repeat, but I’m certainly willing to put my faith in Joe Maddon and Theo Epstein.
And let’s hope the brain trust agrees not to play Kyle Schwarber in the outfield.
Not a bad column by Bruce Jenkins today regarding Fixing baseball’s pace.
Where else would you play him? He couldn’t really catch before tearing up his knee. Probably not better at it now.
Well, he’s their 3rd catcher as it stands now. Montero and Contreras will have the everyday catching position locked down. With Schwarber’s bat, he has to play somewhere. He’s pretty much already the DH.
I’m sorry, I just don’t see him being an outfielder. From what I’ve seen of him in the outfield, he fails the eye test. He can’t back pedal, he’s slow in seeing the ball come off the bat, in short he fails at a lot of these things. I’ve never seen him work behind the plate so I don’t know if he could be used as a backup catcher. He can be used as a pinch hitter and a DH when playing American League teams. Maybe a backup first baseman?
Here’s a scouting report.
You don’t want that bat on the bench 5-6 days a week.
I had to do a double take today watching Team USA against the Twins. Team USA is being managed by Jim Leyland.
Very good article, and he directly addresses most of the issues we’ve been yammering about. He also seems to think Manfred is an asshole, which makes me like him all the more. 
Not bad. I 100% agree with “Do nothing that actually affects how the game is played.” The only point I don’t agree with is putting a cap on the number of pitchers on the roster. It’s better than saying “1 pitching change per inning” or “each pitcher must face at least 3 batters” but I still don’t like it.
I agree that a pitchers-on-the-roster cap is a truly awful idea, and I’m sure five minutes’ conversation with Mr. Jenkins and he’d agree with you. But the general thrust of his column is outstanding; he understands the issue better than Rob Manfred does, that’s for sure.
He hits on a key point, for this issue and a whole lot of others (I’ll let you fill in the blanks): The solution isn’t new rules, it’s enforcing the ones already on the books!
Blue Jays pitcher T.J. House taken to hospital after getting hit in the head by a line drive.
The game wasn’t televised, so there’s no video. He apparently gave the thumbs-up on the way off the field, which is a good. Hope he recovers quickly.