MLB 2021

[legmann61]

True about the Mets' history with injuries, John. But I can't recall them being this decimated in recent history.

Just look at how many big names have hit the IL this year, some might be gone for the season:

Bryce Harper
JT Realmuto
Mike Soroka
Travis d'Arnaud
Chris Davis
Joey Votto
Mike Moustakas
Mike Trout
Cody Bellinger
Cory Seager
Giancarlo Stanton
Zach Britton
Luke Volt

More: https://www.espn.com/mlb/injuries

Yes, I think it's got ALOT to do with training, conditioning, etc. Jeff McNeill recently said he didn't hydrate enough. WTF?!

 

[sj1]

The Mets teams historically are beset with injuries. More so than with other teams. They change their medical teams yet the players still get hurt. Takes them out of their season. I cannot explain it. They are just unfortunate.

Today, I think players in MLB seem preoccupied with playing video games. They have trainers, nutrition experts and exercise assistants. But they aren't well conditioned. Possibly they don't stretch enough before the game. Their muscles aren't limber or their muscles are just too tight. Causing tears and strains during the game. Next to Tommy John surgeries, the biggest injuries seem to be forearm strains and hamstring, calf muscle and quadriceps pulls. That tells everyone that there is something wrong in their conditioning programs. In the off season and while they are playing baseball games.

Pitchers, if they are getting hurt, it is because they don't run enough anymore. They run to build up leg strength and stamina. They "long toss" to build arm strength.
Position players, if they are getting hurt, it is because of too much hard weights and lifting.

Jeff Lowrie, by the way, hurt very badly with that knee injury in his two years with the Mets, went back to the Oakland A's. He's healthy again.

His slash line in 2021 thus far is .249 Avg /.321 On Base % /.391 Slugging % / .788 On Base Plus Slugging / 4 HR/ 27 RBI.

I have thought of this the last few years considering sports. I am know expert and could be wrong but if you look back to players from the late 50's through the 90's most did not lift weights at all or was very little. I believe Juan Marichal said in his day which they do not today is throw every day. Helps keep the arm strong, like any other muscle if you use it more you will make your arm stronger obviously not over doing. The main thing I remember the strong man competition where they pulled vehicles, carried stones, threw kegs up over their head over a bar. Anyway I remember a guy announcing who had participated in this event many times he said these guys muscles are so big that when they tear a muscle it is pretty much the whole muscle is torn. So thinking the way players lift so much weight nowadays and so much time doing it I wonder if it is similar as John posted above some may be limber or flexible but for the most part are not limber from lifting weights to much. Like John said above I think they don't do enough basics like stretch or work more of their core muscles. Sorry did not mean to say that much. Useless Fact of the day---- Today is National Paper Airplane Day.

​

 

[John_8581]

I have thought of this last few years considering sports. I am know expert and could be wrong but if you look back to players from the late 50's through the 90's most did not lift weights at all or was very little. I believe Juan Marichal said in his day which they do not today is throw every day. Helps keep the arm strong, like any other muscle if you use it more you will make your arm stronger obviously not over doing. The main thing I remember the strong man competition where they pulled vehicles, carried stones, threw kegs up over their head over a bar. Anyway I remember a guy announcing who had participated in this event many times he said these guys muscles are so big that when they tear a muscle it is pretty much the whole muscle tore. So thinking the way players lift so much weight nowadays and so much time doing it I wonder if it is similar as John posted above some may be limber or flexible but for the most part are not limber from lifting weights to much. Like John said above I think they don't do enough basics like stretch or work more of their core muscles. Sorry did not mean to say that much. Useless Fact of the day---- Today is National Paper Airplane Day.

​

My late father said that when Dodger pitchers, Carl Erskine, Billy Loes, Johnny Podres, Ralph Branca and Clem Labine were warming up in the Dodger bullpen in Ebbets Field they would throw at a distance of sixty feet (the normal distance of a mound to home plate). On the other hand, Don Newcombe would throw from seventy to seventy five feet. So when he got to the mound his arm was fully stretched out and, of course, by throwing at a longer distance in the bullpen his pitches had much more movement on them when he did take the mound in the game.

 

[gmase]

Spring Training has been over for a two months, but the Pirates need a rules refresher. Two outs, runner on third - just make the force out at first. No runs score!
https://www.mlb.com/video/tyler-anderson-in-play-no-out-to-javier-baez-rnodaw?t=key-moments

 

[John_8581]

Hey the Giants finally beat the Dodgers!

Thank you Mike Tauchman.

https://www.mlb.com/giants/news/mike-tauchman-home-run-robbery-albert-pujols

 

[legmann61]

Spring Training has been over for a two months, but the Pirates need a rules refresher. Two outs, runner on third - just make the force out at first. No runs score!
https://www.mlb.com/video/tyler-anderson-in-play-no-out-to-javier-baez-rnodaw?t=key-moments

One of the most comically bad plays I've seen in recent years. Baez totally duped Will Craig. I can't even recall ever seeing a run-down between home and first like that.

 

[legmann61]

I won't judge until all the facts are in but....
HUGE and very troubling news out of Atlanta tonight:

source

 

[mikexmoran]

National League East is dead. That leaves it for The Mets to be in 1st place for now.
I'm happy about that. Typically the season ends at the All Star break, hoping for more this year.

Too many injuries. MLB picked Pete Alsanso as the Mets' "Ironman". Good example since he just got off the dl.

 

[legmann61]

 

[mikexmoran]

deGrom pitched 6 beautiful innings. 10 strikeouts. Lowered his ERA to a record 0.53...and left the game with a potential tendinitis problem. Ugh. The Mets seem to be the worst of the best this year.

NL West is awesome. Three teams that can win anywhere.
If you live in the Bay Area or Chicago, you’re rooting for a winning team.

1/3 down.

 

[mikexmoran]

Hey the Giants finally beat the Dodgers!

Thank you Mike Tauchman.

https://www.mlb.com/giants/news/mike-tauchman-home-run-robbery-albert-pujols

Giants are still on top of the NL, but that was a tough game against the Nats.

 

[John_8581]

Giants are still on top of the NL, but that was a tough game against the Nats.

Kyle Schwarber had two great at-bats against Johnny Cueto. He drove in four of the five runs. The second homerun was to dead center field. It was a very high pitch. Surprised he got his bat on it. However, his defensive play in the outfield wasn't good. He dived for a ball, missed it and turned Jason Vosler's at bat into a double. His lack of defensive skills goes back to his time with the Cubs. His defensive prowess is always an issue.

Joe Ross had the game of his life yesterday and he beat us badly. His slider acts like a sinker. Goes up and down instead of side to side. I think he struck out eight or nine and he scattered five hits. Then they also played us good defensively. On a shot up the middle by Buster Posey, Josh Harrison dived, threw from his knees and made an accurate throw to Ryan Zimmerman. Took a hit away from Posey. Gabe Kapler was outmanaged by Dave Martinez yesterday.

 

[John_8581]

Giants won last night. Down 7-0, we went on to win 9-8 on Mike Yastrzemski's Grand Slam!

https://www.mlb.com/gameday/d-backs...,lock_state=final,game_tab=videos,game=633679

The Bums from LA also won, 5-3 over the Phillies. Padres fell off again. Losing to the Rockies in Colorado, 8-4

 

[John_8581]

The Dodgers lost 6-2 to the Padres in San Diego last night. The LAD are now 2 GB the Giants. San Diego is now 4.5 GB.

Since the Gigantes were off yesterday. They travel to Anaheim for two games with the Angels. I voted for players in the All Star Game. Online.

Got back an acknowledgement too. Here it is above.

Strange thing though with the "write in ballots" part... there are pitchers in that list. That shouldn't be happening.

The managers of the pennant winners of the previous year, Dave Roberts and Kevin Cash, pick who they want as starters, relievers and closers.

 

[gmase]

Scherzer gets strip searched:
https://bleacherreport.com/articles...ill-take-off-my-clothes-if-you-want-to-see-me

I voted for players in the All Star Game. Online.

These are artifacts now. I remember getting them at games or in the grocery store.

 

[John_8581]

Scherzer gets strip searched:

Poor Max. Glad he didn't have an emery board or a piece of sandpaper on him in the back pocket of his uniform pants. That happened with Mike Scott and Kevin Gross. It also happened with Joe Niekro and Don Sutton, rest their souls.

The National League gave out a two game suspension for Don Sutton and the Dodgers. It would have been more but Sutton's legal team was going to file a lawsuit. The National League decided on two games. Don Sutton got a cool nickname out of it. "Black and Decker."

Ten games for Mike Scott and the Astros in 1987. The League decided on five. Again, they were threatened with a lawsuit. He was caught with cutting the baseball with razor blades found in the webbing of his glove. Later on in the 1987 season it became an "official" ten games.

Ten games for Joe Niekro and the Twins. Ten games for Kevin Gross and the Phillies. Joe Niekro used an emery board. Kevin Gross used sandpaper in his glove.

Right now that is the MLB chosen amount of games. A ten game penalty.

These are artifacts now. I remember getting them at games or in the grocery store.

Remember what they did in Cincinnati? Reds fans stuffed the ballot boxes with them. Picked all Reds players.They had all eight position players named as starters to the All Star Game: Johnny Bench, Tony Perez, Joe Morgan, Dave Concepcion, Pete Rose, George Foster, Cesar Geronimo, and Ken Griffey.

Commissioner Bowie Kuhn asked Chub Feeney, the National League President, to step in. Feeney decided which players from the other teams were to start. The Reds? Well they had four players start. Three others were reserves. Cesar Geronimo was the odd man out.

Crazy times we lived in back then.

 

[John_8581]

This is crazy. David Price is being paid $34 million dollars by the Dodgers this year. So far, he's 2-0 with the Dodgers. He's appeared in 21 games, made 3 starts, pitched 25 innings. Every other night, Dave Roberts uses him for a 1/3 of an inning but never for an entire inning. Last night he just threw two pitches and got a hold. I thought the new rule was that he had to make three pitches. I guess that's not right. Let's see, the rule is one batter or three pitches.

Is it the way Dave Roberts is using him? Or is it Andrew Friedman and upper management deciding this?

Remember what they did with Chris Perez and Don Mattingly? Now Perez wasn't the best reliever while with the Dodgers ... However, Perez needed to appear in fifty games in order to trigger a $750,000 thousand dollar signing bonus based on incentives. Don Mattingly went on using him. But word came down from the front office by Stan Kasten no less. During the 2014 season, Perez stopped pitching September 14, 2014 and wasn't named to the post season roster. Perez ended up making 49 appearances. One game shy of making his necessary bonus. Of course, Perez didn't qualify for the bonus.

Another time, Ted Lilly was rehabbing after his Tommy John surgery in 2013. He had pitched in three minor league assignments. He made an appearance for the Dodgers advanced A + team: the Rancho Cucamunga Quakes. He pitched well. He then was assigned to the Oklahoma City Dodgers. Their Triple A team. He made two appearances. He pitched very well there too. He received a telephone call from the Dodgers front office after his second game. They designated him for assignment then released him. The Dodgers had to continue to pay his $12 million dollar salary and keep him on the team's medical lists so that he and his family had medical insurance.

Now who does that? The Guggenheim Partners (the owners) are cutthroats. The Dodgers are still one of the fiscally irresponsible teams in MLB.

 

[gmase]

This is crazy.

Crazy is the name of the game.

Bobby Bonilla Day
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id...xplained-why-mets-pay-119m-today-every-july-1In 2000, the Mets agreed to buy out the remaining $5.9 million on Bonilla's contract. However, instead of paying Bonilla the $5.9 million at the time, the Mets agreed to make annual payments of nearly $1.2 million for 25 years starting July 1, 2011, including a negotiated 8% interest.

This excludes the $0.5 million Bonilla gets from the Orioles. He had a great agent. ​

​

​

ASG
The Pirates have 2 - yes 2 - All-Stars this year (first time since 2014). The Rockies placed one pitcher on the team - German Marquez who took a no-hitter into the 9th last week. The Pirates were in town so I ventured down for one game Tuesday night. The mighty Ka'ai Tom (.152/.308/.261) broke up the perfectly fine no-hitter It would have been first no-hitter. It strained him so much they needed to put him on the IL later in the week. The game took 2 hours 18 minutes.

 

[John_8581]

Crazy is the name of the game.

Bobby Bonilla Day
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id...xplained-why-mets-pay-119m-today-every-july-1In 2000, the Mets agreed to buy out the remaining $5.9 million on Bonilla's contract. However, instead of paying Bonilla the $5.9 million at the time, the Mets agreed to make annual payments of nearly $1.2 million for 25 years starting July 1, 2011, including a negotiated 8% interest.

This excludes the $0.5 million Bonilla gets from the Orioles. He had a great agent. ​

Bobby Bonilla Day! - They should give that back to the prior ownership group. Have Fred Wilpon, Jeff Wilpon and Saul Katz pay it. How stupid could the Wilpons and Katz be by offering this? Anybody who has taken a finance course in college would know about the future value of money, even at a simple compound rate of eight percent. Of course, Bobby Bonilla's advisors: agent, management, and even his accountants would agree to it and told Mr. Bonilla to jump on it if it was offered. And they not only did it once but twice. The Mets have two annuity contracts out with Mr. Bonilla.

By the way, all the result of greed and avarice here. They thought that Bernard Madoff's double digit returns of twenty-six to thirty-one percent would continue to far exceed the going market rates. Little they know about the Ponzi scheme. Sterling Equity Holdings had significant investments with Madoff in nine entities and business areas. Not only that, with the clawbacks asked for by Irving Picard,the bankruptcy trustee, the Wilpons and Katz lost close to a $ billion dollars. A federal judge later lowered that to $386 million.

That's why they couldn't afford to keep Jose Reyes after he won the 2011 National League batting title.

 

[sj1]

The one that made me mad is the Orioles will be paying Chris Davis for many years. The thing that made no sense when they signed him to a 10 year $ 161 million deal was that the previous year he tested positive for performing enhancing drugs the the Orioles made the playoffs but with his positive test he was not allowed to play plus the team could not replace him with another player, so you lose a player, hurting the team which they lost to the Royals and then rewarded him with that contract. Three of out of the last 5 seasons he was batting way below .200 and the the other 2 not a high .200 plus avg. This year he did not play and will not after having hip surgery I believe. His injury was unknown in spring training and into the the beginning of the season. They weren't talking kept saying he had a mysterious injury. Plus 1 year left.