Cubs Offseason 2014: So, what did your team do this offseason? Isn't that cute.

[Quality Start Machine]

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

I would be aggressive about using the clock over the long haul, I think it's a helpful thing in terms of moving the game along.  I think the second set of changes I would look at is related, and that relates to injecting additional offense into the game.  For example, things like eliminating shifts, I would be open to those sorts of ideas.  [Interviewer: The forward-thinking, sabermetric defensive shifts?] That's what I'm talking about, yes.  [Let's eliminate that?]  Mm-hmm.  [So all the work that the Cubs and/or Angels or whoever has done, you're willing to say I appreciate that, good idea, but it's killing the game in a sense.]  Yeah, I mean I think that you can-, look, we have really smart people working in the game.  And they're going to figure out ways to get a competitive advantage. I think it's incumbent on us in the commissioner's office to look at these changes and say, is this what we want to happen in the game.

What a dumb thought.  Hearing Manfred say listen up, you damn nerds, I'm on to you must send a chill up Theo's spine.

He will also give Ted Williams 400 hits retroactively.

[R-V]

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

I would be aggressive about using the clock over the long haul, I think it's a helpful thing in terms of moving the game along.  I think the second set of changes I would look at is related, and that relates to injecting additional offense into the game.  For example, things like eliminating shifts, I would be open to those sorts of ideas.  [Interviewer: The forward-thinking, sabermetric defensive shifts?] That's what I'm talking about, yes.  [Let's eliminate that?]  Mm-hmm.  [So all the work that the Cubs and/or Angels or whoever has done, you're willing to say I appreciate that, good idea, but it's killing the game in a sense.]  Yeah, I mean I think that you can-, look, we have really smart people working in the game.  And they're going to figure out ways to get a competitive advantage. I think it's incumbent on us in the commissioner's office to look at these changes and say, is this what we want to happen in the game.

What a dumb thought.  Hearing Manfred say listen up, you damn nerds, I'm on to you must send a chill up Theo's spine.

He will also give Ted Williams 400 hits retroactively.

This is just complete dipshittery. The more I think about it the more dumbfounded I am. Hooray for another 20 years of numbnutted commissioning!

[Brownie]

It won't happen. Baseball's pace of play is hurting it, not lack of offense. Rob Manfred I suppose could do something citing "the best interests of baseball," but unlike the Seligcard where people complained about the 91-71 team that missed the playoffs, no one's really bitching about shifts.

Fay Vincent tried to move the Cubs and Cardinals to the NL West, and were immediately sued by the Tribune and A-B. That (along with the imminent expiration of the CBA in which the owners wanted war) helped hasten his exit.

Selig's additions? Interleague play and expanded playoffs (owners were very much in favor of both as were some fans), All-Star Game (owners were not against it; do most fans really care as much as we here don't care for it?), replay (huge groundswell from owners and fans). Selig was bulletproof. Manfred is not.

[Bort]

It won't happen. Baseball's pace of play is hurting it, not lack of offense. Rob Manfred I suppose could do something citing "the best interests of baseball," but unlike the Seligcard where people complained about the 91-71 team that missed the playoffs, no one's really bitching about shifts.

Fay Vincent tried to move the Cubs and Cardinals to the NL West, and were immediately sued by the Tribune and A-B. That (along with the imminent expiration of the CBA in which the owners wanted war) helped hasten his exit.

Selig's additions? Interleague play and expanded playoffs (owners were very much in favor of both as were some fans), All-Star Game (owners were not against it; do most fans really care as much as we here don't care for it?), replay (huge groundswell from owners and fans). Selig was bulletproof. Manfred is not.

This. A casual fan baseball fan with no rooting interest tuning in, say 1998, would have lot more interest in a crisply played 1-0 Maddux shutout than a 5-hour 10-0 Trachsel one. 

[Eli]

It won't happen. Baseball's pace of play is hurting it, not lack of offense. Rob Manfred I suppose could do something citing "the best interests of baseball," but unlike the Seligcard where people complained about the 91-71 team that missed the playoffs, no one's really bitching about shifts.

Fay Vincent tried to move the Cubs and Cardinals to the NL West, and were immediately sued by the Tribune and A-B. That (along with the imminent expiration of the CBA in which the owners wanted war) helped hasten his exit.

Selig's additions? Interleague play and expanded playoffs (owners were very much in favor of both as were some fans), All-Star Game (owners were not against it; do most fans really care as much as we here don't care for it?), replay (huge groundswell from owners and fans). Selig was bulletproof. Manfred is not.

This. A casual fan baseball fan with no rooting interest tuning in, say 1998, would have lot more interest in a crisply played 1-0 Maddux shutout than a 5-hour 10-0 Trachsel one. 

I've seen some backlash the pace-of-play idea recently, with people basically saying "I'm fine with the slow pace because longer games mean more baseball" and I just can't agree. Dead air in between actual baseball events isn't more baseball; it's just dead air.

[SKO]

It won't happen. Baseball's pace of play is hurting it, not lack of offense. Rob Manfred I suppose could do something citing "the best interests of baseball," but unlike the Seligcard where people complained about the 91-71 team that missed the playoffs, no one's really bitching about shifts.

Fay Vincent tried to move the Cubs and Cardinals to the NL West, and were immediately sued by the Tribune and A-B. That (along with the imminent expiration of the CBA in which the owners wanted war) helped hasten his exit.

Selig's additions? Interleague play and expanded playoffs (owners were very much in favor of both as were some fans), All-Star Game (owners were not against it; do most fans really care as much as we here don't care for it?), replay (huge groundswell from owners and fans). Selig was bulletproof. Manfred is not.

This. A casual fan baseball fan with no rooting interest tuning in, say 1998, would have lot more interest in a crisply played 1-0 Maddux shutout than a 5-hour 10-0 Trachsel one. 

I've seen some backlash the pace-of-play idea recently, with people basically saying "I'm fine with the slow pace because longer games mean more baseball" and I just can't agree. Dead air in between actual baseball events isn't more baseball; it's just dead air.

Agreed. I always enjoy it whenever some hitter takes a timeout for granted and just steps out of the box and the ump calls a strike on them. GET IT MOVIN, PALLY. I PAY YER CELERY.

But seriously, speeding up the Trachsels of the world would not mean less baseball and I'm all for it.

[InternetApex]

It won't happen. Baseball's pace of play is hurting it, not lack of offense. Rob Manfred I suppose could do something citing "the best interests of baseball," but unlike the Seligcard where people complained about the 91-71 team that missed the playoffs, no one's really bitching about shifts.

Fay Vincent tried to move the Cubs and Cardinals to the NL West, and were immediately sued by the Tribune and A-B. That (along with the imminent expiration of the CBA in which the owners wanted war) helped hasten his exit.

Selig's additions? Interleague play and expanded playoffs (owners were very much in favor of both as were some fans), All-Star Game (owners were not against it; do most fans really care as much as we here don't care for it?), replay (huge groundswell from owners and fans). Selig was bulletproof. Manfred is not.

This. A casual fan baseball fan with no rooting interest tuning in, say 1998, would have lot more interest in a crisply played 1-0 Maddux shutout than a 5-hour 10-0 Trachsel one.  

I've seen some backlash the pace-of-play idea recently, with people basically saying "I'm fine with the slow pace because longer games mean more baseball" and I just can't agree. Dead air in between actual baseball events isn't more baseball; it's just dead air.

Agreed. I always enjoy it whenever some hitter takes a timeout for granted and just steps out of the box and the ump calls a strike on them. GET IT MOVIN, PALLY. I PAY YER CELERY.

But seriously, speeding up the Trachsels of the world would not mean less baseball and I'm all for it.

I believe that speeding up pitchers too much would lead to more arm injuries. I say this with absolutely no data to back up my belief. I mean none. Don't ask me for any, I don't have it. Fuck you. But it's logical to me because I remember certain days in high school when I took longer on the mound because I was waiting for my arm to stop hurting. Rick Sutcliffe has spoken on this before as well.

What a terrible post this is.

[Eli]

I believe that speeding up pitchers too much would lead to more arm injuries. I say this with absolutely no data to back up my belief. I mean none. Don't ask me for any, I don't have it. Fuck you. But it's logical to me because I remember certain days in high school when I took longer on the mound because I was waiting for my arm to stop hurting. Rick Sutcliffe has spoken on this before as well.

Source?

[Brownie]

It won't happen. Baseball's pace of play is hurting it, not lack of offense. Rob Manfred I suppose could do something citing "the best interests of baseball," but unlike the Seligcard where people complained about the 91-71 team that missed the playoffs, no one's really bitching about shifts.

Fay Vincent tried to move the Cubs and Cardinals to the NL West, and were immediately sued by the Tribune and A-B. That (along with the imminent expiration of the CBA in which the owners wanted war) helped hasten his exit.

Selig's additions? Interleague play and expanded playoffs (owners were very much in favor of both as were some fans), All-Star Game (owners were not against it; do most fans really care as much as we here don't care for it?), replay (huge groundswell from owners and fans). Selig was bulletproof. Manfred is not.

This. A casual fan baseball fan with no rooting interest tuning in, say 1998, would have lot more interest in a crisply played 1-0 Maddux shutout than a 5-hour 10-0 Trachsel one. 

You're welcome then.

Yes, it's a 2 1/2 hour kick in the balls.

[Quality Start Machine]

It won't happen. Baseball's pace of play is hurting it, not lack of offense. Rob Manfred I suppose could do something citing "the best interests of baseball," but unlike the Seligcard where people complained about the 91-71 team that missed the playoffs, no one's really bitching about shifts.

Fay Vincent tried to move the Cubs and Cardinals to the NL West, and were immediately sued by the Tribune and A-B. That (along with the imminent expiration of the CBA in which the owners wanted war) helped hasten his exit.

Selig's additions? Interleague play and expanded playoffs (owners were very much in favor of both as were some fans), All-Star Game (owners were not against it; do most fans really care as much as we here don't care for it?), replay (huge groundswell from owners and fans). Selig was bulletproof. Manfred is not.

This. A casual fan baseball fan with no rooting interest tuning in, say 1998, would have lot more interest in a crisply played 1-0 Maddux shutout than a 5-hour 10-0 Trachsel one. 

How many 1-0 games were there in 1998, when batboys were hitting 25 home runs?

[Bort]

It won't happen. Baseball's pace of play is hurting it, not lack of offense. Rob Manfred I suppose could do something citing "the best interests of baseball," but unlike the Seligcard where people complained about the 91-71 team that missed the playoffs, no one's really bitching about shifts.

Fay Vincent tried to move the Cubs and Cardinals to the NL West, and were immediately sued by the Tribune and A-B. That (along with the imminent expiration of the CBA in which the owners wanted war) helped hasten his exit.

Selig's additions? Interleague play and expanded playoffs (owners were very much in favor of both as were some fans), All-Star Game (owners were not against it; do most fans really care as much as we here don't care for it?), replay (huge groundswell from owners and fans). Selig was bulletproof. Manfred is not.

This. A casual fan baseball fan with no rooting interest tuning in, say 1998, would have lot more interest in a crisply played 1-0 Maddux shutout than a 5-hour 10-0 Trachsel one. 

You're welcome then.

Yes, it's a 2 1/2 hour kick in the balls.

I said with no rooting interest... Now I'm sad.

[Yeti]

[World's #1 Astros Fan]

168 PA's for Denorfia?  Seems low. 

[Chuck to Chuck]

168 PA's for Denorfia?  Seems low. 

199 for Bryant seems to be off by about 300.

[SKO]

168 PA's for Denorfia?  Seems low. 

199 for Bryant seems to be off by about 300.

Isn't PECOTA usually regarded as the most conservative of the big projection systems? If so this isn't surprising, and fairly comforting that they still think the Cubs are apparently a playoff team in the NL.