Dempsey Accuses Toronto of Stealing Signs

[Camden_yardbird]

I'm not saying Toronto is definitely not stealing signs, as there have definitely been some sketchy moments with the team, but how exactly would this work? The players that leave Toronto as free agents or are traded are sworn to secrecy? It just seems like this sort of information would get leaked.

Unwritten rules. You don't rat on your former teammates.

[PA724_Oriole]

I'll probably get slammed for this -- I've never understood what was so wrong with stealing the other team's signs. As a practice, I would personally rate it morally above a passing baserunner yelling "I got it!" in order to flummox a defender who's tracking a pop-up.

I agree. The pine tar issue is more important than sign stealing.

If a player is stealing signs then the person they are stealing off of is stupid for not doing something about it.

[PA724_Oriole]

Unwritten rules. You don't rat on your former teammates.

Another unwritten rule is you dont snitch on someone in the streets. Some.live by it others dont.

Unwritten rules need to be written or forgot about. Just because one person or a group of ppl view something one way doesnt mean everyone else needs to.

Home of the Free! Lmao..

[blid]

Do visiting teams get the same boost at rogers center? If not that is definitely highly suggestive.

From the article I linked in the other thread:

Now, by themselves, the above splits aren't conclusive, so to measure the effect of Rogers Centre more precisely, The Mag consulted with Wyers. He has developed a method that generates park factors by comparing a player's performance in any given park with his performance in all other parks, not just in road games for that player. This reduces statistical noise and offers a better estimate of how a park actually plays in a given season. Wyers found that for every ball that batters made contact with in 2010, Rogers added .011 home runs, up from a rate of just .002 from 2005 to 2009. That puts Rogers Centre in 2010 among the top 3 percent of home run ballparks since 1950.

But only the Blue Jays, and not their opponents, got a home run boost in Toronto. When the Jays were on the road in 2010, they hit home runs in 4 percent of plate appearances in which they made contact, compared with an AL average of 3.6 percent. At Rogers, their home run on contact rate soared to 5.4 percent, which is a home-field advantage seven times the magnitude teams typically enjoy.

Opposing batters, however, actually homered on contact at a below-average rate in Toronto. As a result, the power differential between home and visiting hitters at Rogers in 2010 was the third largest of any park in any season over the past 60 years (see chart).

http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/6837424/baseball-toronto-blue-jays-suspicion-again-stealing-signs-rogers-centre

[The Wedge]

People have been accusing Toronto of this for a long time. It's not exactly new ground Dempsey is breaking. If anything, it's more like "Dempsey joins many others who accuse Toronto of stealing signs."

[CA-ORIOLE]

From the article I linked in the other thread:

Now, by themselves, the above splits aren't conclusive, so to measure the effect of Rogers Centre more precisely, The Mag consulted with Wyers. He has developed a method that generates park factors by comparing a player's performance in any given park with his performance in all other parks, not just in road games for that player. This reduces statistical noise and offers a better estimate of how a park actually plays in a given season. Wyers found that for every ball that batters made contact with in 2010, Rogers added .011 home runs, up from a rate of just .002 from 2005 to 2009. That puts Rogers Centre in 2010 among the top 3 percent of home run ballparks since 1950.

But only the Blue Jays, and not their opponents, got a home run boost in Toronto. When the Jays were on the road in 2010, they hit home runs in 4 percent of plate appearances in which they made contact, compared with an AL average of 3.6 percent. At Rogers, their home run on contact rate soared to 5.4 percent, which is a home-field advantage seven times the magnitude teams typically enjoy.

Opposing batters, however, actually homered on contact at a below-average rate in Toronto. As a result, the power differential between home and visiting hitters at Rogers in 2010 was the third largest of any park in any season over the past 60 years (see chart).

http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/6837424/baseball-toronto-blue-jays-suspicion-again-stealing-signs-rogers-centre

Pretty neat piece of research there.

[The Wedge]

Pretty neat piece of research there.

Very neat. Also quite disturbing and worthy of incredible suspicion. MLB should be investigating that discrepancy with a bit of fervor, at least as much fervor as they've put towards PEDs these last few years.

[Baltoravensrule]

Side note, Bautista has 27 walks (7 more than the next closest) and is on pace for 208 walks. That would rank as the second most walks in a single season. He had 69 walks last season.

[Rex Thunder]

I'm not saying Toronto is definitely not stealing signs, as there have definitely been some sketchy moments with the team, but how exactly would this work? The players that leave Toronto as free agents or are traded are sworn to secrecy? It just seems like this sort of information would get leaked.

cmon being reasonable is no fun!

Are you serious? There is a code in baseball. You do realize hundreds of players were doping and it wasn't until JOse Canseco, "the black sheep" who has been blackballed by most in MLB because of it, spoke out about it.

[VeveJones007]

Tillman's stuff wasn't very good in the 2nd inning...but I DID get the impression that the Jays knew what was coming, either because Tillman was tipping pitches or they were getting signals. I'm not convinced of it. It was just an impression that I got that could be way off base.

[Rene88]

I do know this...our pitching isn't THIS bad. Something is up!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Dr. Unk]

Looks like we are stealing them tonight. :laughlol:

[weams]

Bud said that Wieters and he switched to night signs. Chest, Mask, second , third signs after Toronto too a couple too many real big hacks in situations that would not have otherwise called for that surety.

[weams]

Tillman's stuff wasn't very good in the 2nd inning...but I DID get the impression that the Jays knew what was coming, either because Tillman was tipping pitches or they were getting signals. I'm not convinced of it. It was just an impression that I got that could be way off base.

They were getting signals. Thank goodness the Orioles adjusted.

[slakattack]

Bud just told Hunter that Wiets and him switched to "night signs" after the early HRs. I guess you never know for certain, but Bud did seem to start focusing better after that. BTW, I LIKE BUD (more than some who will remain nameless, so as not to ruffle sensitive feathers).