I add Steelers to the list.
Yes Steeler fans are getting arrogant like Yankee and Cowboy fans bragging how many Super Bowls have your team won? That's what they say to Eagles fans here in Philly. They get a lot fans here in the sports bars and it annoys the always friendly Eagles fans, lol. I just flash 4-1 at them. That's the Pats record vs. the Steelers in the playoffs.
You asked for proof, I provided it.
Gardner may be worse next year, true. But they’ll also have Frazier up. Long term, it’s a worry for us.
Is defense the only metric you’d like to use regarding catchers? Sanchez is the best offensive catcher in baseball, the Yankees will give him time to develop those skills.
Close enough. I have Sánchez as just about neutral for framing (contributing 0.31 extra strikes per game compared to league average - virtually identical to Sandy León), while Vázquez was 6th-best in baseball at 1.36 extra strikes per game. Over the season, Sánchez contributed 28.9 extra strikes, Vázquez 112.8. Each extra strike is worth 0.13-0.14 extra runs; that means Vázquez contributed the equivalent of about 11-12 extra runs over the season from his framing. Of course, Sánchez made up about four times that much from his offense.
Sure they may. They made a couple of deals this season where they unloaded a group of prospects for big time improvements on the field, and even though they gave away a few guys who had ranked in the top 100 prospects at times this year is barely even dented their system.
Is Sanchez expected to stick at catcher? He's pretty big for a C, no? And I know the movement behind the plate is weaker than his arm, but I haven't researched scouts' take on him. Do they expect him to be behind the plate for the majority of his career, or is it something where he'll have to move out in 2-3 years?
Have you looked at the impact of pitch framing over time? Is the gap narrowing between the best and worst now that this is becoming more of a mainstream stat. I'm wondering if perhaps umpires are wising up to the best framers and trying to be more careful, and the impact will lessen.
You'd think so, but I don't see it. It's all normalized to league average, so I can't tell if the average is getting better, but the range stays roughly constant, with the best and worst about the same distance from the mean each year.
None to the level of Sale or Kimbrell. It's not really a may either, they only have 25 and 40 roster spots to work with. There is going to be too much talent to protect.
100% correct. And there are so many other examples too. A team has some success due mostly to anomalies (ie: Tanaka & Sabathia pitching like Koufax), then people start hyping the team as the one to beat THIS year, and before you know it the bandwagoners are adjusting their opinions yet again based on what just happened rather than all the other factors that they seem to have forgotten.
I don't think the Yankees are some super team but I don't know what you have against people adjusting their opinion when a years worth of new data becomes available. I'm guessing you think much higher of Judge now than you did last year. It's ok to change your opinion.
The Sox were in the mix, too, with all of their young positional talent and adding Sale. The Nats have been a dynasty in the making the past few years. And who can forget the Mets and their insane, young pitching staff? What about all of Cleveland's talent? And now we can add Houston and the Dodgers to the mix. Hell, Minnesota, Colorado, and Arizona had great years and are stacked with young talent.
I don't have anything against anyone, as everyone is entitled to their opinions and how they choose to arrive at them. It's just hard for me to respect some opinions when they change mid-series based on how momentum swings a certain way. I respect those who can observe and form logical opinions before a series starts, not those who Rosie Ruiz it. And I especially respect those who provide solid reasons to believe victory is still possible even though a team appears to be finished.
This!
Doesn't everyone struggle against quality pitchers when they are on? And Judge had 4 HRs and 11 RBIs this postseason in 13 games. It isn't like he totally disappeared like some players do in the post season.
And you made a blatantly false assumption that I'm assuming people are changing their minds based on a series. Look upthread, and you will see that I and others were accused of being "in denial" and "having our head in the sand" about the alleged greatness of the Yankees. After Game 5 I was mocked for stating the Indians and Astros are both better than the Yankees. They specifically stated they had picked the Astros to win BEFORE the series began, and then changed their mind and picked the Yankees to win because they were supposedly the better team ... and this changed opinion of theirs occurred, not coincidentally, AFTER the Yankees won their third straight and was one victory away from going to the World Series. The epitome of frontrunning, the epitome of bandwagon. So no, I did not make an assumption. The proof is upthread.
When Napoli stepped to the plate in the top of the 7th against Verlander in Game 3, the Sox had just 2 singles and Verlander had struck out 8. And Verlander was riding a 33-inning shutout streak. But really good hitters capitalize on mistake pitches, like a hanging curveball or a fastball that's a little too high and gets a little too much of the plate. Napoli saw the latter, and crushed it for the only run of the game.
Second that. Only thing I can find in a quick google search regarding Kluber's ALDS performance and a possible explanation is speculation that his back, which was an issue early in the year, flared up on him again. No mention of off-the-field issues or personal issues in the piece, which is dated two days ago. One would think if there was an off-field reason for Kluber's struggles, something allegedly confirmed by the manager, an article dedicated to those struggles penned a week after the series ended might mention it.
As to the staff, one team requested permission to speak with Davis, His career didn't really overlap with Cora's (aside from '98 but they didn't play in the same league). He may be gone.
This is one of 'em.
How does that suggest that Kluber's circumstances were more than injury-related?
That's what I meant by off the field issues, an injury as opposed to mechanics etc. I admit my initial response was vague, my apologies.
Congratulations to Mike Napoli? I genuinely don't know what you are talking about here. Napoli isn't even on the Red Sox.
He had a huge HR in game 4 in the 7th off of McCullers who had dominated the rest of the lineup the rest of that game and in game 7, running him from the game. He came up the next inning and roped a game tying double, that nearly went out, off of their closer Ken Giles. The next day, he had a huge two run double off of the biggest Yankee killer of them all, Dallas Keuchel, a former Cy Young winner.
You do realize the Yankees Pythag'd that series 4-3, right?
You had said "doesn't everyone struggle against quality pitchers when they are on?". I used Napoli/Verlander as an example because Verlander was a quality pitcher that was very much "on" that entire postseason, similar to how he is this postseason (not counting his first-ever relief appearance). That homerun was legendary, except of course to Tigers and Yankee fans.
And I informed you that Judge actually did hit some good pitchers this past series.
That is some shocking stuff. A team managed to lose in games when their best hitter did nothing. I am not sure why you are laying this all at Judge's feet though. He is also the only reason that the Yankees scored a run in the final two games. No one on the team hit.
That is *not* how people use the phrase "off the field issues." It sounded like you were suggesting he was in trouble with the law or something.
Um, this conveniently leaves out the four games (out of only 13) where he had 3 HRs and two doubles. You must really be down on Jose Ramirez, another MVP candidate.
