Plutarch

Not an asterisk, but a big glob of Vaseline on the hat would be funny

Or, in the words of the immortal Buddy Guy: "Don't let the doorknob hit you where my dog should have bit you"

Wasn't trying to "break news" so to speak...just showing data that backs up what most of us (umpires union excluded) think

I found this to be any interesting read: ------------------------------------ Boston University professor Mark T. Williams and his team of graduate students recently completed a study that examined the accuracy of MLB umpires on ball/strike calls from 2008 through 2018. What they found: The results showed that younger umpires have performed far better than their older counterparts. Pretty alarming when you consider that more than half of the 76 full-time umps this season are 55 or older. By the numbers: The top five performers averaged 32.8 years of age with a bad call rate of 8.36%. The bottom five performers averaged 57.4 years of age with a bad call rate of 14.06%. This is concerning: Last season, Ted Barrett, 54, ranked dead last with a bad call rate of 13.8%. Yes, the same Ted Barrett who served as crew chief for the World Series.

If the pitch trackers on TV are accurate then an ump could have an earpiece that buzzes when there is a 'looking' strike. The umpire is still responsible for swinging strikes, tipped foul balls, out at the plate, etc. (everything that are responsible for now except looking strikes. What always bother me about umpires setting/interpreting the strike zone is illustrated by how annoyed I used to get watching Ricky Henderson bat. He was 5'10'' but his crouch gave him a strike zone that was comparable to Eddie Gaedel and he benefited from a lot of undeserved walks. If the strike zone size were set based on the batter's height, which would be easy to do electronically than with the human eye, then it level the playing field.

The C. Davis limbo contest....How LOW can you GO?

In your opinion. Objective is to maximize assets in order to increase odds of winning at some point int he near future. Starting the clock on HH does neither at this point

But HH or no HH the O's aren't winning anything this year so delay the service time clock

It's possible but not probable. Even though much of the AL may be weak, the O's are still going to have to face higher quality opponents (Yanks, Sox, Jays and yes even the Rays) more than the Seattle or Minnesota, etc.

One thing that managers/GMs/Owners are not very good at realizing is that the players salary is a sunk cost - the team is going to pay the same amount (taking performance bonuses out of the equation) no matter the output/productivity of the player. Thus in a perfect world the decision to sit player making $20m (?) per year is solely based upon trying to win a game or set of games) and is not an admission by management on there organizational capabilities (Ego). Trying to win should come before trying to prove ones self correct.