Desipio Message Board

Grand slams are good for VORP. God I love Baez in the same way I loved Big Z.

If Carl can't play left he's not gonna stick up here. Apparently.

Got the classic Borowski hard hit double play. That's experience.

Or Travis Wood.

Would rather have Denorfia. Or Curtis Wilkerson.

Quote from: flannj on April 22, 2016, 03:27:59 PM

Quote from: SKO on April 22, 2016, 03:13:54 PM

Quote from: InternetApex on April 22, 2016, 03:06:50 PM

Quote from: SKO on April 22, 2016, 02:38:53 PM

Quote from: Oleg on April 22, 2016, 02:36:03 PM

Quote from: InternetApex on April 22, 2016, 02:11:00 PM

Quote from: PANK! on April 22, 2016, 01:51:48 PM

Quote from: SKO on April 22, 2016, 01:28:14 PM

Quote from: Oleg on April 22, 2016, 01:17:08 PM

Quote from: SKO on April 22, 2016, 12:05:15 PM

Quote from: Canadouche on April 22, 2016, 11:39:15 AM
With sophomores, you always worry about whether or not they will adjust and improve or have a shitty second year. I admit I'm feeling a bit concerned about Addison, who admittedly is hitting balls hard. But the amazing thing about this team is that, with their offensive capabilities, there has to be close to zero stress on Russell to hit. The team isn't counting on his bat, so he can work out his druthers without feeling scrutinized/pressured. And sooner or later, I'm certain he'll begin hitting well again. It's kind of refreshing to not have to worry, even if worry is understandable.

Worry really isn't needed though. He's striking out less and walking more than last year. His hard/medium/soft contact % are all about the same as last year, and he's making more contact. His BABIP is just .231 this year vs .324 last year. He's showing all of the signs of an improved player, he's got shit luck right now. He's going to be pretty good once those balls start to drop. And when he has better batted ball luck.

And, the whole 'sophomore slump' narrative is kind of weak to begin with.

I mean, I'm not going to tell Kurt or anyone else when to worry but I would suggest worrying about something that's actually a thing.

Yeah, I wonder how much of the sophomore slump thing just came from players that weren't actually good getting off to hot starts and then cooling down the next year. I mean Angel Berroa didn't have a sophomore slump, he was just bad. Same with Real ROTY Randal Grichuk.

Bob Hamelin, Joe Charboneau...

Jerome Walton, Dwight Smith...

Jerome Walton was not a good baseball player to begin with.  He was a singles hitter who never walked and struck out too much.  His rookie year he rode a .337 BABIP into a whopping 103 wRC+.  The following year, in fact, he walk rate finally rose to an acceptable level at 11% but, as a slap hitter with no power, his BABIP also normalized to a .317 level  But, like I said, a slap hitter with no power who doesn't walk and doesn't do anything else very well just won't last int he league.

If you want to discuss adjustments, how about this one...he took about 6 years to figure the power thing out and, in '95, had a .235 ISO in 188 PAs for The Reds after barely even sniffing .100 in his career.  He had a 134 wRC+ in those 188 PAs.

Dwight Smith also didn't have a sophomore slump as much as he had a career slump.  He had a 148 wRC+ in '89.  Other than 348 PAs in '93, he was a pretty league average hitter for his career.  His BABIP was .347 in '89 and never touched those levels again.  So, meh.

I am enjoying this research you are doing but I think both of them were actually agreeing with us that the "sophomore slumps" are really just "surprising rookie was actually not good at baseball". I think they were just naming examples. I don't think Apex was trying to say Walton was good.

Right. A sophomore slump is probably just a thing people say when they're witnessing a shitty sophomore season by a guy who eventually washes out after one outlier of a rookie year. We'd have to poke around the interwebs pretty good to find a player who had a nice rookie year, had a sophomore slump (not due to injury) and then went on to a successful career. I'm sure there are a few, but who cares?

The real fear, unfounded as ever, would be that Russell actually sucks. I don't think so. And he's what, 12 years old in baseball player years?

Yeah, even if he were actually struggling he still has youth and inexperience on his side, but he's really not struggling. He's just hitting into shit luck. That's really all there is to it.

Can he sing like Dwight Smith? Cuz that can make up for a lot.

Good call! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owS91SfHj0A

Excellent show!

Plus...Aaron Brooks!

Shit I thought we were still building a winner around David Ross, and thought everyone had died.

Fowler is back? Ok.

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2016/02/cubs-re-sign-dexter-fowler.html

Take it easy, Glenn.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2016/01/13/lawrence-phillips-death-prison/78742058/

Quote from: Saul Goodman on January 11, 2016, 08:13:22 PM

Quote from: SKO on January 11, 2016, 04:32:43 PM

Quote from: Brownie on January 11, 2016, 04:23:48 PM

Quote from: PenFoe on January 11, 2016, 04:17:45 PM

Quote from: CT III on January 11, 2016, 04:14:29 PM

Quote from: SKO on January 11, 2016, 04:09:16 PM
DPD, but fine, when used 90% of the time in daily conversation, means "good but ordinary." I had a fine day= my day was good, but nothing of note occurred. Mediocre is definitely like "meets bare minimum standards but is in no way good."

used in a sentence: "Mark DeRosa is a fine second baseman" whereas "Jason Marquis is a mediocre 5th starter"

I feel like you came up with this example specifically to enrage Huey as much as possible.

So, bravo.

That lineup is not so fine.

Holy shit when did Lou Montanez ever actually play for the Cubs? AND BAT THIRD?

Nice choice(s), Ed/Jim.

Wow an outfield of Joyce DeWitt, Colvin, and Montanez? That's definitely sub-fine. How'd they ever win 8?

At least Missouri can look forward to the Brayan Pena experience.

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2015/12/yadier-molina-randal-grichuk-surgery.html

Quote from: Median Desipio Chucklehead on December 15, 2015, 04:22:28 PM
http://wgntv.com/2015/12/15/cubs-fan-serenades-jason-heyward-with-awesome-beatles-parody/

It would have been better/even worse if he'd covered the cool version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0y8Q2PATVyI