Thor'sLinks: Boned again. One last time.

Some of you are pointedly defiant about the reactions to Commissioner Manfred's IBB change. This link is for you. As summed up by Grant: "There is no change that could be implemented right now that would immediately suck in new fans."..........

Garrett Richards is not the only starting pitcher coming back from TJ-quality injuries. So maybe it will be of value to compare all five of these guys as one way to measure the success of Richards' therapy............

The Red Sox are upgrading their analytics application system. Upping the ante in information warfare. I have some insight into that which lies beneath their old system. I wonder what I would find if I inquired about the upgrade? I would use this story as another opportunity to direct you to any difference between the BoSux Front Office IT and analytics staff and that of LAA, but if you look at the LAA Front Office listing anymore, you will see them uniquely private among all MLB teams, listing a mere 10 names in what is more a vanity plate than anything truly informational..........

Just some fun juxtaposition. A couple of days ago ESPN gave us a list of certain teams that have been plagued at some position for a long, long time. Yesterday we got the opposite, a list of teams that have been particularly strong at some certain position. That last list includes LAA, of course..........

Two days ago we had Rob Manfred taking pot shots at the Players' Union. Yesterday we got the Players' Union firing back. The Third Estate, we fans, only get to be armed with cap guns in this kind of battle. But just in case either side reaches out, I can clear my schedule for a couple of weeks in New York to represent all of you..........

Ha ha ha! Gone with the IBB is also the catcher's balk. Rule 5.02(a). Good catch by FanGraphs..........By the way, Jesse Chavez has some comments on all this from his perspective as a pitcher...........And Blue Jays' Russell Martin does likewise from the POV of a catcher..........And Mike Scioscia chimes in as the manager who gets to signal the pass. Of course he likes it. There is absolutely zero downside for the defense issuing that pass. In fact, it eliminates all possibility of things going bad issuing the pass. If there is no upside gained by the offense, and all downside for the defense is eliminated, that does skew the game a tad. "If a butterfly in China..." and all that..........

Even more fun are the hypotheticals. Sticking with the IBB topic, over on reddit one commenter gives us an extreme. But without such an extreme, it could still happen. It would be a combined no-hitter, but if one of the pitchers in the combo did the IBB free pass and then picked the runner off of first base, and that was the last out of the game or the last out of that pitcher's appearance, then hell yeah, a pitcher was part of a no-hitter without throwing any pitches. Of course, if the previous pitcher had yielded a walk and the replacement pitcher performed a pickoff without ever throwing to the plate, it would be the same thing...........

(I just had a random thought and not a link: Why the hell is the signal for an IBB supposed to come from the dugout? On principal, this is supposed to be a contest between the players on the field of play. I am not naive. I do realize that the coaches in the dugout are constantly engaged in signaling from the dugout, but that is exclusively to communicate to their own players.  When managers wish to communicate with the umpire now, they don't throw out a red hankie or anything. They get out of the dugout, walk or run over as the case may be, and converse directly with the umpires. Starting this season, we now have a game where the contestants are the players on the field AND the manager in the dugout of the team on defense. Hmmm...)

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The Duffle Bag

Baseball Reference has put up a shiny new look. Looks a lot like the SBN revamp, if you ask me. I dunno. I try not to bark about progress, but there is something comforting about doing research with a tool that looks more like an encyclopedia than an electronic roadside billboard..........Oh, yeah, that Colby Rasmus viral beard? Forget it. It's gone............Ichiro Suzuki is a human miracle. Either that, or he adheres to Tom Brady's weird diet habits............

Full Disclosure. Choosing not to hide out of mere fear of #cesspool. Some SBN dirty laundry gives all of you a chance to look behind the scenes of the world we masthead member live within. More here. Especially the comments..........

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Halo-Oppo-ly

Week 3 of our Chance/Community Chest cards!

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