BRobinsonfan

My daughter's step brother is profoundly autistic. Matt is completely non-verbal and very isolated. Since his father passed away he's been living with my oldest daughter. The two of them developed a special bond together, and since he's moved in with her, he's really blossomed. He's still non-verbal but he communicates some in writing. It breaks my heart to think anyone would be so depraved as to take emotional and financial advantage of someone in Matt's situation. I hope this guy gets what's coming to him.

This is where I'm at. I hate the idea of seeing one of our highly regarded young (under control) prospects blossom into a superstar somewhere else. I'm so conditioned about the veteran pitchers we acquire not working out that I'm reluctant to gamble. I'm glad it's Elias' decision and not mine.

With a OBP between .397 and .438 over 3 minor league seasons and one major league campaign, there's a lot to like in Evan Carter.

As I previously mentioned the Mets had the highest payroll and they finished 4th - 12 games below .500. The Yankees had the second highest payroll and they also finished 4th with an 82 – 80 record. The San Diego Padres had the third highest payroll and they also finished with an 82 – 80 record for a third place finish. It's clear the big payrolls aren't always a guarantee of success.

You know who's upset? The New York Mets who had the largest payroll in baseball last year and finished 4th in the National League East, winning just 75 games.

Missing bats is important, but missing barrels is important too.

A bad WHIP "for the majority of his career?" 2018 - 1.24 2019 - 1.67 2020 - 1.11 2021 - 1.24 2022 - 1.15 2023 - 1.12 Other than 2019, what are you talking about???

To me, both Valdez and Cease are legitimate TOR starters, and as such, I'd be thrilled to have either one of them… for the right price. And that's what it really comes down to. If we're prepared to make a serious run for a WS championship now, either one would be a great addition. I guess I'd be prepared to give up a little bit more for Cease, but I don't want to dramatically overpay for a 30 year old pitcher, even if he's a front line starter.

Not trying to be obtuse here, but according to Baseball Savant he has a chase % of 50, a whiff% of 56 and K% of 60. All average or above. How are you measuring “missing bats?” I do agree that he's not Clemens in his prime and at 30 years of age he's most likely to begin slipping.

What constitutes “missing enough bats” for a starter? He averaged 9.1 KO's per game, he had a better WHIP, ERA+ and FIP than Cease did last year, gave up fewer hits per 9 (7.5 vs. 8.7) than Cease.

So you would be indifferent to "Peter Angelos Memorial Stadium?" I know what I'm getting you for Xmas!

I lost a lot of posts to those resets… those were some of my most productive posting years too! It's like Ted Williams and the Korean War, I can't help but wonder where my post totals/reputation score would be if it hadn't been for those resets.

Holy heck I just looked and my official sign-up date was September 22, 2003, so I've got you beat by about 2 ½ months! You've been a little more active about posting than I have though! Happy OH Anniversary Frobby. Many more!

You make some fair points, but I would still say he outperformed my expectations for the following reasons. He was coming off a year in which he posted a 5.05 ERA with a 79 ERA+. He turned 35 in 2023 and I think it would be fair to say, because of that, you could reasonably expect some regression. Instead, he had a better ERA+ (87), WHIP (1.318) FIP (4.13) and HR9 (1.1) plus he gave us 192 innings in which he averaged just under 6 innings per start. (The previous season he averaged 5.38 innings per start and this year he averaged 5.81). I think because of his age I was mildly surprised at the season he gave us.

Happy to support this worthwhile cause again this year. Thanks to you and your organization for helping make this possible!

If Razor Shines did not exist it would be necessary to invent him.

In any discussion about pitching coaches, I can't help but remember Jim Bouton's description of the pre-game “scouting” meetings to go over the opposing team's line-up when he was with the Seattle Pilots. Apparently, pitcher Gary Bell was famous for advising “smoke 'em inside” for just about every hitter, and manager Joe Schultz would distill everything down to “Give him some low smoke and we'll go pound some Budweiser.” I've read that after “Ball Four” came out Bouton would frequently sign “smoke 'em inside” underneath his signature.

Your "repeatedly proven to be accurate" friend didn't spell Carlisle group right.

I can't bring myself to read the article... was there any mention of "liftoff" or any other rocket ship ride metaphors?

I don't know SG. I have to go with Aristotelian here. “Should” is from the Old English “sceolde,” past tense of “sceal.” It preserves the original context of “obligation” that conveys the meaning of “what ought to be.” And of course there was that time you were wrong about your pre-season prediction for our won-loss record last year.

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I'm going to go out on a limb here and say he's going to need more than 25 games in the minors, with demonstrated success in AA and AAA, before anyone is seriously talking about him as our starting CF.

What's up with Hyde and Elias??? I'm disappointed they didn't reach out. They win 101 games, and suddenly, they're too busy to throw some appreciation Frobby's way? They're dead to me!

He was always fun to watch. It seems like he was extremely well-regarded by his teammates. Such a sad loss for his family, and for baseball.