Lots of great info there.

The decision tree for who to play would do Dusty wonders. It's probably hard to quantify, but a handful of wins in a season could be the difference in the postseason or a bye.

I agree on the unlucky part. I posted something not too dissimilar a couple of days back. We'll regress to the mean in due time, but that won't be good enough. Going from bottom 5 top 8-12 isn't good enough. This offense needs to be top 5. Its too talented not to be.

Marvin said:

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MAROON said:

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Catcher is the biggest black hole in the MLB. A hitting catcher is just about a unicorn.

But I agree with cutting Castro and going young

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Maldy is widely praised for his catching and pitcher management. His replacement better bring some lumber to make up the defensive drop off.

I bet if Tucker, Alvarez, Yuli and Altuve start hitting as expected we will be much more tolerant of Maldonado's bat.

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agreed. I'm not the biggest Maldy fan for defense although he seems to have a decent arm. His glove work for framing pitches also seems to be better than Castro - who at least recently has had a sloppy glove. Which I freaking hate - that one of the key skills to be a catcher. I think someone mentioned last night that it looked like Verlander was getting pissed at his pitch framing the last time he started.

MAROON said:

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Marvin said:

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MAROON said:

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Catcher is the biggest black hole in the MLB. A hitting catcher is just about a unicorn.

But I agree with cutting Castro and going young

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Maldy is widely praised for his catching and pitcher management. His replacement better bring some lumber to make up the defensive drop off.

I bet if Tucker, Alvarez, Yuli and Altuve start hitting as expected we will be much more tolerant of Maldonado's bat.

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agreed. I'm not the biggest Maldy fan for defense although he seems to have a decent arm. His glove work for framing pitches also seems to be better than Castro - who at least recently has had a sloppy glove. Which I freaking hate - that one of the key skills to be a catcher. I think someone mentioned last night that it looked like Verlander was getting pissed at his pitch framing the last time he started.

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I don't know how good the catch framing metrics are in baseball savant, but Maldy and Castro are both near the middle of the pack. Madly was slightly better in 21, but Castro was better in 20 and 19.

Stassi is a damn good framer and turned out to be a good hitter for a catcher. Outside of the Hader/Gomez & Fiers trade, giving up on Stassi might be the 2nd biggest blemish on Jeff's record (as for moves, not the cheating stuff). I don't really blame him too much for trading JD. He had his chance and the odds of him just figuring it out was so remote its hard to blame anyone.

I know it counts for something because the heaps of praise keep coming, but Maldonado's defense/framing are overrated in my eyes. I just don't see anything special besides the arm. Maybe its the pitch calling, maybe not. I am not sure how that can be quantified accurately.

The largest city in Texas doesn’t exist on this map at Globe Life Field. pic.twitter.com/HjiJABUYOg

— Brian McTaggart (@brianmctaggart) April 26, 2022

The letter says that the staff physically relayed information to the Yankees dugout. The team also did this during road games.

The Yankees would use “real-time information” with the opponents signs to the dugout.

— Michael Schwab (@michaelschwab13) April 26, 2022

The letter hasn't been unsealed yet, but Andy Martino got a hold of a copy and wrote up a article that was extremely favorable to the Yankees. Guarantee you that was orchestrated but Cashman and Manfred

agproducer said:

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The spin is underway. And the narrative of the Yankees did it before the September 2017 memo, so it is ok, and orange team had the most heinous of offenses as cheaters because it was after the memo has begun.

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Yep...here is a few paragraphs from ESPN (Buster Olney go figure). It says they cheated, but of course it wasn't to the level that 'orange team bad' did.

Quote:

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Sources said Manfred informed the Yankees that MLB's investigation found that Yankees players watched the monitors in 2015 and 2016 to discern pitch-sequence information that was then relayed to baserunners, in the hope that they could communicate this to the batter. Additionally, sources said the letter notes that former Yankees pitching coach Larry Rothschild called the replay room to ask about pitch identification, which is against the rules.

Manfred's letter to Cashman, sources said, does not suggest any real-time conveyance of signs from the dugout to the hitters during their at-bats -- the threshold established in the Astros' case -- or violations after Manfred's memo in September 2017.

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Bunch of chodes.

Does expected BA take into account the shift? If it's only exit velo and LA then it isn't a true "expectation" when you have 4 outfielders or 3 infielders on one side if the diamond. I do think Tucker is unlucky, but I also think his "expected" numbers are not indicative since they are an aggregate of all the players and not simply the LH hitters who often face an extreme shift. This is also why I don't want him leading off but would like to see him possibly in the 2 hole so they can't shift as aggressively and even if they do, his pulled outs can at least be productive.

I'm sure this has been discussed but I may have missed it.

EastCoastAgNc said:

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What's Wrong With The Astros?

The run production has been terrible. Why?

I give you a thorough analysis of several possibilities and then surprise you with the truth at the end.#Astros #LevelUP #StartTheSeasonSmarter #MLB

Tell me what you think!https://t.co/DoSD0qdCNT

— LarryTheGM.com Site (@LarryTheGM) April 26, 2022

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Quote:

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Over the past ten years BABIP for the league has been 0.292 to 0.300. In 2022, BABIP is at 0.283. The Astros BABIP is a league WORST 0.232. That will not sustain at that level. It will get better and the batters will get "hot."


Overall, every EXPECTED stat is far better than the reality so far. You know what that is? That is being UNLUCKY. When one considers all of these factors, one could claim the Astros have been the unluckiest team in all of the MLB.

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Well, I certainly hope it turns around soon.

This is my favorite part of this. It’s literally says they were using the phone to relay the information in real time. BUT BANGING A TRASH CAN IS WORSE!!! pic.twitter.com/qqxpTbwZIz

— Michael Connor (@MC790) April 26, 2022

ESPN might hate the team, but it has definitely noticed Mr. Pena in its early-season predictions.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/33803710/a-10-war-season-move-babe-ruth-our-hottest-hot-takes-two-plus-weeks-mlb-season


The Astros' new shortstop will be better than the Astros' old shortstop
Eric Karabell: Nothing against new Twins shortstop Carlos Correa, but new Astros shortstop Jeremy Pena is going to finish the season with a higher WAR and offer considerably more value to his team. Again, Correa is awesome, even though he is off to a rough start at the plate, but Pena looks more awesome, not just defensively -- where he might be a legitimate Gold Glove contender even as a rookie -- but with his power and plate discipline. He hit a game-winning home run over the weekend and could hit atop the team's lineup. The Astros knew what they were doing, trusting this critical defensive position to someone with no big league experience.
Why it's spicy: Correa was the No. 1 free agent in a loaded class and is arguably the best shortstop in the entire sport. Jeremy Pena, on the other hand, has all of 50 major league at-bats to his name. And here you are willing to declare that Pena won't just fill Correa's shoes in Houston this season -- but that he will be better than him? That is what we call bringing the heat.

Here is the Yankee Letter.

Yankees using replay room to steal opponents signs and relayed then in real-time to the dugout.

(📸 @EvanDrellich) pic.twitter.com/eof53EIy3v

— Michael Schwab (@michaelschwab13) April 26, 2022

Full letter

Would love to get Cashman's thoughts on this.

Yankees, Red Sox confirmed 'cheaters'.

Now do Dodgers.

I love it. The Yankees complained to Manfred that the Red Sox were cheating. He said he would investigate it. He wrote them back and said "they are doing the same thing you did in 15 and 16. Used a camera, video monitor and a phone. You sure really wanna go here?"

Thats freaking hilarious.

Altuve is doing all the running today. Sprints and then side to side. Getting closer.

— Julia Morales (@JuliaMorales) April 26, 2022

Literally nothing will come from this. Just like nothing came from Sale saying people saying the Astros should lose their title are dumb because everyone did it.

People are already laughing at the Astros saying this is a nothing burger. In the eyes of the public, media, and MLB we were the scapegoat and will always be the scapegoat.

Faster we just accept this the better.

Yankees get private letter and small fine.

Still, this begins and ends with Rat Fiers.

Now I'm pissed off all over again.

And Buster Olney can shove that hairsplitting justification up his Yankee-kissing ass.

These are different things. Very, very different things. Players have been trying to steal and relay signs from second base forever. That doesn’t excuse the Yankees and Red Sox, but context matters. Relaying pitches with such specificity as the Astros did was entirely new. (6/9)

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) April 26, 2022

"the astros used technology to steal signs so they are bad guy and i am dumb dumb jett poopin"

979ag said:

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These are different things. Very, very different things. Players have been trying to steal and relay signs from second base forever. That doesn’t excuse the Yankees and Red Sox, but context matters. Relaying pitches with such specificity as the Astros did was entirely new. (6/9)

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) April 26, 2022

"the astros used technology to steal signs so they are bad guy and i am dumb dumb jett poopin"

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Yankee media gonna be spinning so hard