AZRon

Since the proposed rule requires that each team list its "rostered" pitchers at the beginning of the season and with a limit on the number of pitchers on the active roster, the MLB is properly stating those game instances when exceptions to the rule - only pitchers or 2-way players can pitch -- are allowed.

I believe that was a MLB proposal, subject to the pending determination of the joint MLB/MLBPA committee (and, perhaps, a full vote of the MLBPA). Here's the full MLB proposal: ================================================================= On March 14, 2019, MLB and the MLBPA reached an agreement on midterm changes to the then-current CBA that will affect future roster sizes. Effective with the 2020 season, teams will be allowed 26-man active rosters from the start of the season through August 31. A joint MLB/MLBPA committee will make recommendations on limits to the sizes of pitching staffs that, if adopted, will also take effect in 2020. MLB has proposed a limit of 13 pitchers through August 31 and 14 from September 1 to the end of the regular season. The agreement also calls for the introduction of a playing rule that places severe limits on pitching by position players. Each team must designate players as either "position players" or "pitchers" before the start of the season, and that designation cannot be changed during the season. Only players who are designated as "pitchers" will be allowed to pitch in any regular-season or postseason game, with the following exceptions: One team is ahead by at least 6 runs when the player has assumed a pitching role. The game is in extra innings. The player serving as pitcher has earned the status of "two-way player". A player earns two-way status by satisfying both of the following criteria, in either the current season or the immediately preceding season: Pitching at least 20 MLB innings. Playing in at least 20 MLB games as a position player or designated hitter, with at least three plate appearances in each of the 20 games.

Other than better pitching (or weaker batters), the most likely explanation is that many more games are being played at night.

I have been attending a few AFL games each season for several years now. Here's some of the changes that I've noticed: A couple of pitchers from each team used to sit in the stands behind home plate and chart pitches -- no longer true The number of scouts attending has gradually diminished The age of those scouts has trended sharply younger Fewer of those scouts are former professional players Fewer of the scouts manifest speed guns and more tote other forms of technology Speaking of the latter, yesterday, I had a brief conversation with a Giants scout as he was setting up his Edgertronic camera equipment and connecting the USB cord to his laptop. He stated that his system is capable of recording at 750 to 1000 frames per second. I'm aware that Edgertronic produces cameras with the capability of over 2000 frames per second. https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/high-speed-cameras-spread-quickly-around-baseball/

https://www.mlb.com/news/major-league-baseball-tests-robot-umpires-arizona-fall-league Yesterday, I was at the game played at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick. Here's what I noticed: Slight delay by home plate umpire calling balls and strikes Seemed that more strikes than usual were called on the following pitches: inside fastballs and breaking balls; high fastballs; low breaking balls The home plate umpire wore a device belted over his left rear hip, in a custom protective pouch (somewhere around the size of large cellphone or very small tablet) A "civilian" attended the umpire between 1/2 innings (6th or 7th) to make an equipment change -- perhaps, a battery replacement I was unable to spot any wires or an earpiece There were no obvious batter/pitcher objections to any of the strike/ball calls I do not know whether or not this is the same system that was tested this year in the Atlantic League. I am strongly in favor of the MLB adopting this type of technology ASAP (as soon as practical/possible).

Yeah, I'm uncertain why so many posters seem so concerned about besting Tampa Bay for the lowest MLB payroll. The Orioles have already lopped off $100M from their 2017 payroll. Does anyone here have access to Mike Elias's 2020 MLB player budget?

Thanks for the corrections -- I'll have to start sitting in the sun and closer to the plate.

Yesterday, I attended the Surprise Saguaros vs. Scottsdale Scorpions game at the Scorpions home base , Salt River Fields at Talking Stick. Four Orioles started for the Saguaros -- Rylan Bannon at 3rd, Mason McCoy at 2nd, T.J. Nichting at DH and Alex Wells pitching. Dean Kremer relieved Wells to start the 4th inning. Overall, the game featured strong pitching and some of the worst fielding gaffs that I've witnessed at an AFL game -- including a run scoring from second base while the Scorpions' pitcher, catcher and first baseman surrounded a pop fly and watched it plop safely fair about 20 feet up the first base line. Bannon -- hitless in 4 at-bats; one hard hit ball, liner to medium center field; weak grounder to 3rd for a force out; pop fly to second baseman; struck out missing a low outside fastball strike; my impression remains that he is a patient hitter with good plate awareness and coverage McCoy -- notable batting stance, sort of leans back with knees strongly bent forward; no hard hit balls, a couple of infield grounders, foul tip fastball 3rd strike, and a walk on a 3-2 fastball well outside; started a 4-6-3 double play. Nichting -- switch hitter, batted left 4 times; looked a bit overmatched; a couple of weak grounders to first, late on a 3rd strike fast ball, drew an easy walk. Wells -- impressive; simple windup, rocks from the waist; pitched ahead; 3 pitches for strikes; fastball - 89 and 90, breaking ball 72 - 74, change (excellent) 83-85; a few hard hit balls, line drives for hits; 4 strikeouts no walks; 2 swinging K's 2 looking (completely fooled on fastballs); struck out the side in the 2nd; multiple moves to hold runners at first; step off throw and picked off runner at first who had taken an average lead. Kremer -- looked good; pitched 1 inning; basic windup, rocks from the waist; 3 pitches around the plate - fastball 91-92, breaking pitch 74, change 84; 3 up and down; struck out 2, 1 swinging and a weak fly to center. So that's 2 AFL games that I have attended so far; each breezed along: Time of games -- 8 1/2 innings 2:34; 9 innings 2:21

According to Spotrac -- https://www.spotrac.com/mlb/cash/ -- the Orioles easily ranked 28th out of 30 in MLB "Cash" payroll spent in 2019 and the current projection in the opening post (all else being equal) would place them in the same spot in the rankings.

For those who want to play GM, I am presenting the current projected opening day team payroll (ODP) for the start of the 2020 season. I'm dealing only with the "active" roster, but the O's will have pay obligations for all players on the 40 man roster. I'll try to keep this up to date through opening day (all help appreciated). To qualify for this list, the player must be on the 40 Man Roster or on a split contract. This list represents my guess as to the 2020 Opening Day Active Roster (26 players + IL) as of the date of this post. Salaries are displayed as rounded to the nearest $10k, but the total is accurate to 2 decimal places. Projections for those under contract are from the Cots Baseball Prospectus Compensation website. The 2020 minimum MLB salary is $563,500. Last year's Orioles ODP was $82.12M, about a 53% reduction from the previous year. I provide this information so that we can make accurate and useful comparisons to the opening day payrolls of the Orioles in previous years, other MLB teams and the totals for Major League Baseball. As with virtually all team opening day payroll tabulations on the web, my total payroll figure does not reflect any deductions for deferred salaries or additions for set-asides for deferrals from previous years (as required by Article XVI of the CBA). So, please, let's dispense with the squabbling over the "accounting" for salary deferrals. I have noted the 2020 contract deferrals in the right-most column of the below chart. Status PLAYER POS 2020 SALARY DEFERRED ($ Million) ($ Million) P Chance Sisco C $0.57 P Pedro Severino C $0.60 C Chris Davis 1B/DH $23.00 $6.00 P Renato Núñez DH/1B/3B $0.60 C Hanser Alberto 2B $1.65 C José Iglesias SS $2.50 P Rio Ruiz 3B $0.58 C Trey Mancini OF/DH/1B $4.75 P Austin Hays OF $0.56 P Anthony Santander OF $0.59 P DJ Stewart (IL) OF $0.56 P Cedric Mullins OF $0.56 P Ramon Urias UT $0.56 P Andrew Velazquez UT $0.57 C Wade LeBlanc SP $0.80 C Alex Cobb SP $14.00 $4.50 P John Means SP $0.70 P Asher Wojciechowski SP $0.65 C Mychal Givens RP $3.23 C Richard Bleier RP $0.92 P Paul Fry RP $0.65 C Miguel Castro RP $1.05 P Hunter Harvey RP $0.56 P Kohl Stewart RP $0.80 P Tanner Scott RP $0.56 P Cole Sulser RP $0.56 P Shawn Armstrong RP $0.60 Total $62.74 $10.50 A = Arbitration Projection C = Contract P = Pre-Arbitration

I neglected to mention that I observed Rylan Bannon's practice swing technique as he was waiting in the on deck area. He takes several swings at a simulated waist-high pitch with the currently popular upward launch angle and releasing his upper hand at the practice contact point (ala Charlie Lau/Walt Hriniak) and completing a full follow through with his left arm.

I attended today's game at the Peoria Sports Complex, the home field for the Surprise Saguaros who easily topped the Mesa Solar Sox 6 to 1. The scouts there confirmed that the AFL is not using the MLB baseball. That is, the baseball is the one that was used at all levels below AAA in 2019. The game was completed in just over 2 1/2 hours. Two (2) different pitchers were penalized once each with a called ball for exceeding the time limit (15 seconds with the bases empty and 20 seconds with any runner on base) to start their windup motion or to come set. No batters were penalized with a strike call for exceeding the the various time limits to be in the batter's box (30 second timer between batters, batter must be in the box at the 15 second mark and ready to hit at the 5 second mark; 2 minute 15 second timer between innings, the batter must be in the box by the timer's expiration; once an at-bat commences, the batter may only exit the box after a foul ball or a way-inside pitch). I noted that, after the "ball" penalties were called on the pitchers, the timer was not reset -- I'm assuming that this was an administrative error. As to the Orioles' farmhands: Rylan Bannon played the entire game at 3rd and batted 3rd in the lineup. At 5 feet, 10 inches, he is one of the significant minority of players in the AFL who is listed below 6 feet in height. He had 2 fielding plays -- one was a parallel to the ground dive to his left (ala Brooksie) to spear a line drive on 1 hop with short-hop throw to first to nail the out; and a major league play on hard-hit bouncer to deep 3rd with a long short-hop throw to first to gain the out. At bat, there were no whiffs and he exhibited some patience, but had only 1 hard hit ball -- a low line drive single to the left of 2nd base; he advanced a base on a wild pitch and scored from 2nd on a single to short left-field. David Lebron pitched 1 relief inning. The smallish right-hander (listed at 6 feet, 190 pounds) worked from a windup with the bases empty and throws full overhand. He was consistently around the plate, gave up 1 hard-hit ground ball single, and retired the other 3 batters on 2 softly hit infield liners and a ground ball.

Brad Bergesen is the pitching coach for the Scottsdale Scorpions. https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=berges001bra He just turned 34 years old and joined the Phillies organization as Lakewood's (Sally League) pitching coach last year. He moved up to Clearwater's pitching coach (A+) in 2019.

Here's a recap of the investigation(s) determinations, criminal prosecution and MLB actions regarding the St. Louis Cardinals hacking of the Houston Astros' database. Severe consequences for one (1) hacker. Significant punishment for Cardinals organization for failure to effectively oversee their employee's activities. https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/we-now-know-extent-of-cardinals-hack-and-the-unprecedented-penalties-from-mlb/

Apparently, the Cardinals employed (employ?) an amateur spell checker version (or failed to employ one). If so, it's one of the very few shortcomings I've noted with respect to that organization.

All of these personnel changes raised my curiosity about pension plans. From the MLB Pension Plan: http://www.mlb.com/mlb/official_info/bhb/eng/mlb-0f0-pension-print.pdf "You are eligible to participate in the Pension Plan if you were a member of the Pension Plan on March 31, 2012, or if you are a player with one day of credited service with a Major League club during a championship season after that date. If you work as a coach, a trainer, an assistant trainer/physical therapist, or a manager after that date, you are eligible to participate in the Pension Plan if a club designates you to participate in the Pension Plan....." Apparently, non-uniformed personnel (other than trainers and physical therapists) are eligible for a pension plan for/in which less than 500 individuals are eligible and/or participate. So what about scouts, player oversight coordinators and front office employees? https://www.brightscope.com/form-5500/basic-info/230063/St-Louis-Cardinals-Lp/13917507/Major-League-Baseball-Pension-Plan-For-Non-Uniformed-Personnel/2017/ For non-playing personnel, it's an insider's game -- mostly year-to-year job security, skimpy pay, and non-standardized performance measurement. I guess it really is "For Love of the Game"

How many times does an effective pitcher throw the pitch within 1 baseball's distance of his target? Christy Mathewson practiced doing that. When he was successful at doing it in games, he was praised for his "command". Watch the Oriole pitchers during the game and count how many times they are "successful at hitting their target". As to command, if a pitcher is ineffective, it could be blamed: on the "metrics" for bad targeting based on count and batter's strength/weaknesses and/or on the catcher for placing the wrong target and/or the pitcher's inability to "consistently hit his target" I'm betting the latter Few major league hitters are consistently overpowered by velocity or an "unusual" pitch. Athletic pitchers should be able to improve their command by effective practice techniques. So, the Orioles' current conglomeration of pitchers: is insufficiently athletic to benefit from practice regimens or the practice regimens are ineffective at or insufficient to improving their ability to command a pitch I'm betting on the latter. Can any of the Orioles Hangout staff provide their observations on the pitching practice regimens?

You have to remove all "formatting" before copying/pasting -- best to prepare it in "plain text".

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2019/07/an-underrated-waiver-pickup.html

Here's my solution to the "competitive balance" issue: Universal and equal MLB minimum and maximum team payrolls. Institution of an international "amateur" player draft with rules patterned after the Rule 4 player draft. For domestic amateur and all international players, all "academies", scouting and evaluation data managed by the MLB with data and reports distributed to teams equally. Unionization of minor league players with the requirement that MLB negotiate with the union in good faith. Maintain existing revenue sharing and competitive balance draft pick awards (perhaps, with adjustments). ============================================================================== Payroll computation includes all players on the 40-man roster (with daily substitution allowance for those players on the 60 day IL). Payroll includes all salaries, bonuses, "incentives" and deferrals. These limits apply from from day 1 of the regular season through the completion of the World Series. Violation would require current season forfeiture,ineligibilty for the Rule 5 draft and in the following year, the loss of first 10 picks in the Rule 4 draft and zero $ for the international signing pool allocation.

In my example, at that moment in the game, the score was Rays 2 to Orioles 1

Brandon Hyde certainly disdains the intentional base-on-balls strategy. Through games of 7/1/19, number of IBB's issued: Orioles 3 Yankees 5 Red Sox 14 Blue Jays 17 Rays 19 EX: In tonight's game, as a "1st guess", in the Rays' 6th inning, I would have intentionally walked Garcia to load the bases and brought in Fry to face Kevin Kiermaier.

I posted this on 12/1/17 when the O's first acquired Wojciechowski (and it's still true): ====================================================================================== If and when Asher Wojciechowski makes the Orioles active roster, he will set the record for the modern day Oriole with the longest surname. His 13 letter surname will edge out the current leader -- Arnie Portocarrero -- 12 letters

https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/MLB/2014-starter-pitching.shtml https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/MLB/2019-starter-pitching.shtml RA/G = average runs allowed per game by starting pitchers IP/GS = average innings pitched per game started 2014 Orioles RA/G = 3.66 IP/GS = 5.9 2014 American League RA/G = 4.07 IP/GS = 6.0 2019 Orioles RA/G = 6.33 IP/GS = 4.8 2019 American League RA/G = 4.79 IP/GS = 5.3

This says it all for me: https://tht.fangraphs.com/tht-live/remembering-gus-triandos/