2016 MLB Regular-Season Thread

oop-
I said nothing of his defense, which certainly stinks (100-plus errors in the last four years).
Pedro Alvarez is a career .236 hitter who doesn't walk, strikes out a lot and doesn't play defense.
That is the perfect candidate to spend the rest of his career in the other league or as a future cigar store Indian in left field.
As for them not being better, the season is three damn days old. You are trying to elicit a prescribed response that will jibe with the position you have rigidly reasoned yourself into. This is why people lose patience with you.

 

Obviously, we aren't done here, shottie, because fart boy still won't answer my question. He chose this debate. He thought he had a gotcha moment when the team signed Polanco to an extension and it is clear that isn't the case. Based on the actual talent on the roster, they are weaker in every area than they were at the end of 2015.

Fart, you love to talk about your ability to make predictions. You have also criticized me in the past for refusing to join you in making predictions. Why not do so here? I'm not talking about basing a prediction on the first few days of the season. I'm talking about what the teams look like on paper.

On paper, do the Pirates look like a better or worse team as they enter the 2016 season than they were at the end of 2015? Look at the changes in the roster and say what you think? If you think they kept a similar level or got better, why wouldn't you say so? Of course, if you think they got worse, then you would have to acknowledge that I have a point.

You do understand I'm not defending Alvarez, right? Just as I'm not criticizing them for Burnett's retirement or Happ leaving in free agency. I'm questioning the decisions they made in filling those gaps. You clearly agree at least at first base based on your posts in this discussion.

Does that mean they will take a step back this year? Possibly, but it's no sure thing. Maybe Glasnow and Taillon are ready to make an impact at some point. Maybe Bell solves the problem at first base. Maybe Searage works h is magic with Niese and Nicasio and the rotation is better than expected. Maybe the Cardinals and Cubs will be devastated by injuries. Stuff can happen, and they still have the core of the team that made the playoffs the last three years. My only point is the Pirates could have given themselves a better chance for 2016, but ownership wouldn't allow it.

 

Thru 2 games:

Dodgers 18, Padres 0

And oop, we're 2 games into the season. Seems practical to give the Pirates 50 games before asking if they're weaker or better this season.

 

It's called a preseason prediction Songbird. They do them all over the place. As I mentioned, Fart has criticized me in the past for not making predictions. Now he is avoiding stating an opinion that relates to a discussion he started about the Pirates. I do think that is an important thing to note. Fart started the argument by attacking me for not posting something about the team's new contract extension with Gregory Polanco, which I simply hadn't had an opportunity to post about yet.

 

Blue Jays manager John Gibbons thinks players need to show up in dresses because of the new slide rule. Jose Bautista clearly grabbed Rays 2B Logan Forsythe to ruin a two-run play.

http://www.mlb.com/news/article/170622448/new-slide-rule-impacts-blue-jays-rays-ending

 

That was one of the dumbest calls I've ever seen, and I hate that batflip douche.

He shouldn't have been called out.

 

Last year he wouldn't have been.

 

Where can I get a T-shirt immortalizing that play?

 

I have no idea what the wording of the rule is, but I don't have a problem with it if it means grabbing at a guy's ankle means you get called out. That wasn't any part of a normal slide.

 

From Ron Darling's new book:

 

Exact wording below:

It doesn't specifically rule out tripping, only the "roll block" or coming in spikes high. Bautista did meet the four criteria for a "bona fide slide," though it seems the phrase "initiates (or attempts to make) contact with the fielder for the purpose of break- ing up a double play" is what led the umpires to interpret that he was out.

Gibbons and Bautista probably shouldn't be picking this particular fight. There's not a ball (or puck) sport on the planet that permits tripping. Is it really necessary for the rules committee to add tripping to the language of this rule?