Random Baseball Musings

[Famous Mortimer]

Agree, apart from the idea that the Angels would want our four cast-offs for their already-a-Hall-of-Famer superstar. Imagine if the Cardinals had traded Pujols in 2007 for a similar group of players. Fans would have burned Busch Stadium down.

[haltz]

Agree, apart from the idea that the Angels would want our four cast-offs for their already-a-Hall-of-Famer superstar. Imagine if the Cardinals had traded Pujols in 2007 for a similar group of players. Fans would have burned Busch Stadium down.

Trout hasn't played a full season since before covid and is owed $250M and he's 31 not 27. It's definitely a PR nightmare, almost more so that it's basically a salary dump for one of the best players of all time, but they're not going to get a huge return unless they eat some money and he's in a different place in his career in terms of age, contract and performance than Pujols in 2007.

[Famous Mortimer]

they're not going to get a huge return unless they eat some money and he's in a different place in his career in terms of age, contract and performance than Pujols in 2007.

I just don't understand why people are trying to talk themselves into this. There is absolutely no possible way the Angels accept garbage like Hudson, Baker, Burleson and Yepez, who've combined in 2023 for -1.7 WAR, for Trout, who's only played in 80 games this year but still has 3.0 WAR, and has the potential when healthy to be worth 10 or so. There's a vast difference between "huge return" and "four players who've been a net negative for their team". You clearly don't want them on the Cardinals, so why on earth do you think the Angels would want them, enough to give up their greatest ever player in the process?

These garbage x 3 for Hall of Famer trade "hypotheticals" are the stupidest thing about the baseball internet, and it's not all that close.

[haltz]

And that's not even with the right Baker

You don't trade players you trade contracts. We're throwing in $50M as well right?

Arenado was traded for garbage plus Colorado kicked in cash and he's not Mike Trout but definitely a HOF and maybe the most valuable player in the NL (definitely from 2015-2019) for a decade leading up to that.

[Magneto2.0]

https://twitter.com/TalkinBaseball_/sta ... 02692?s=20

Alek Manoah never reported to Triple-A when he was optioned on August 11th because he was upset about the decision, per
@SNJeffBlair


Manoah reportedly has not even been throwing bullpens or side sessions. It’s unlikely that he’ll pitch in a game again this year

[Radbird]

Should be able to get him foe pennys on the dollar.

[mikechamp]

Had an interesting play occur in yesterday's youth ballgame and wanted to get some feedback, especially from our resident umpire(s).

Runner on 2nd. 1 out. Right-handed batter has a 1-1 count. Swings at a pitch in the dirt (low and away) and takes off for first, thinking it's a dropped third strike. Our catcher gathers the ball, throws to first and the batter is initially called safe because he beats the throw. Meanwhile, the runner at 2nd goes to 3rd. The home plate umpire then calls time and says it's a 1-2 count and that the batter needs to return to the batter's box to finish his at-bat. However, the runner is allowed to stay at 3rd.

I can understand the runner being allowed to stay at 3rd because he was running of his own volition and could have been thrown out if we had thrown his way. However, it seemed like what the batter did, intentional or otherwise, should not be allowed. So, should he have been penalized, or is this a weird loophole in the rules where a team could employ this as an intentionally devious strategy to get a runner to move up a base? Because I'll tell you now that the runner on 2nd wasn't getting to 3rd via steal. He was slowww.

Note 1: Throughout the game, the ump was not very good at conveying the count. There was a scoreboard, but the operator was not always accurate/timely, and we've taught our boys to not always trust the scoreboard because the umpire has the accurate info.

Note 2: I do not believe this was intentional by the batter, because on the next pitch, it was a ball and he thought it was ball four. He was simply a moron, as were a number of his teammates based on how they played defense.

[Joe Shlabotnik]

Had an interesting play occur in yesterday's youth ballgame and wanted to get some feedback, especially from our resident umpire(s).

Runner on 2nd. 1 out. Right-handed batter has a 1-1 count. Swings at a pitch in the dirt (low and away) and takes off for first, thinking it's a dropped third strike. Our catcher gathers the ball, throws to first and the batter is initially called safe because he beats the throw. Meanwhile, the runner at 2nd goes to 3rd. The home plate umpire then calls time and says it's a 1-2 count and that the batter needs to return to the batter's box to finish his at-bat. However, the runner is allowed to stay at 3rd.

I can understand the runner being allowed to stay at 3rd because he was running of his own volition and could have been thrown out if we had thrown his way. However, it seemed like what the batter did, intentional or otherwise, should not be allowed. So, should he have been penalized, or is this a weird loophole in the rules where a team could employ this as an intentionally devious strategy to get a runner to move up a base? Because I'll tell you now that the runner on 2nd wasn't getting to 3rd via steal. He was slowww.

Note 1: Throughout the game, the ump was not very good at conveying the count. There was a scoreboard, but the operator was not always accurate/timely, and we've taught our boys to not always trust the scoreboard because the umpire has the accurate info.

Note 2: I do not believe this was intentional by the batter, because on the next pitch, it was a ball and he thought it was ball four. He was simply a moron, as were a number of his teammates based on how they played defense.

Ah, youth baseball...

The way I was taught about giving counts. Do so whenever:

• After the 3rd pitch.
• After ball 3 or the first strike 2.
• As part of your post-foul put-the-ball-in-play routine. IE: Never "Play!" but "<count>, Play!"

I've seen plenty of U10 and under and in 7th grade ball where you see inexperienced batters do what you say. Most of the time, I call time and put people back. Maybe talk to the offensive coach about it between innings.

At U13 and up and 8th grade / JV ball, I am going to assume experienced teams and let this play out. At that point, I'm not going to penalize the offense for a defense that can't keep track of the count. A well trained catcher is going to know to ignore the batter and concentrate on the steal.

[mikechamp]

Thanks for the feedback, Joe. So this is a play that a mischievous team could employ to steal a base. Interesting.

[Joe Shlabotnik]

Thanks for the feedback, Joe. So this is a play that a mischievous team could employ to steal a base. Interesting.

If it was me at higher levels, yeah. I'd tell defensive coach to talk to his catcher. When they see batter take off and they know its only strike two, the batter means nothing. They are coming back regardless.

But in youth ball, you will see all sorts of different approaches and opinions in your umpires. As you are, no doubt, painfully aware.