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I could get really used to starting this thread every year..
Today seems like a good day:
https://youtu.be/C-Cv9z86cOE?si=p2Q2B9xJBoYGF5yv
Today is the beginning of the international signing window with a few pieces left to land.
Full team workouts for the Reigning World Series Champions and best team in baseball for the last 10 years start in a month.
Good winter so far, Red Sox, Dodgers, Mets, Yankees all got better.
Should be another interesting year.
Let's go Mets!
Go Sox!! I miss this feeling!!
Attachment 510136
https://youtu.be/DPh4iF76LbU?si=ZhARTDn9PwLrZFaL
Rest in Power Clown prince of Baseball
RIP Bob
RIP Bob. Thanks for the laughs.
https://y.yarn.co/a4bad1ea-815c-4991...f805f_text.gif
[Somone post up that clip of him on Carson's Tonight Show. Dude was hilarious and living the life]
I believe that's the one. Good lookin out Danno.
Uecks storytime: back in undergrad I worked in the pro shop of a country club and every time the Brewers were in town to play the Reds he'd come out and play golf with one of the objectively biggest asshole members I've ever come across (which still holds true to this day which is saying something because I know a lot of asshole club members), an ophthalmologic surgeon who would brag to anyone and no one that he was bringing Bob Uecker to play golf and he needed no one hassling him and open tee times before and after their group.
OK guy, our pro would always smile and nod ignoring his requests.
So one day Bob shows up and much like Al Czervik, he's tearing the pro shop up with his commentary and generally making fun of everyone and everything. It was great. Then the Dr. comes in and he saves his best stuff for him. In about 5 minutes time while the Dr. was getting them checked in Bob basically bullied him out loud for anyone within earshot to hear: making fun of his bald head, his beer belly, his dog, his 3rd wife... everything. The Dr. so was red-faced and embarrassed by the time they walked out the side door we all were left staring and smiling in awe.
Then Bob pokes his head back in the door and announces to the shop, "you think I got him sufficiently rattled for the next 4 hours!?!" with a huge smile.
It was faaaaantastic.
We all know and love the post playing laughs, but that Carson bit reminds that he actually caught one of the baddest mfing pitchers of all time more than a dozen times including multiple shutouts. Hoot didn't put up with bullshit, so Bob must have been able to play it straight in his playing days.
Little impromptu memorial for Uek in Milwaukee forming. Love all the Miller Lites.
Attachment 510188
Sad day in Wisconsin. I grew up listening to Uecker call Brewer games coming home from the cottage. Blowout games were more fun to listen to than close games because of his stories.
I can't remember what radio station ( WTMJ?) we used to listen to Brewer's radio on back then, but I loved listening to Bob call Brewer's games, and yeah, the tangents he'd start in on and keep talking were great. Sometimes we'd turn off the sound on local televised games in Appleton/Green Bay and listen to Bob on the radio, inevitably the game would keep playing, but Bob would keep talking about something other than the game and sometimes back to the game with a "Hey! The Brewer's got a basehit with one on in the bottom of the 8th"Quote:
Originally Posted by Grange
Same goes for Packer's radio, Jim and Max were awesome.
Many of us only knew him as the wise guy comedian & spokesman and forget he was the voice of baseball for Brewers fans.
The GOAT knew https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yr4RJMBldo8
Quote:
Originally Posted by BmillsSkier
Classic.
Best Euk story I have heard....
Juuuuust a little bit outside
Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums
great story man. thanks for sharing that. grew up listening to ueck. tough day today. Makes me really fond of the times that i've had. the best days are now, cheers.Quote:
Originally Posted by BmillsSkier
Attachment 510241
Classy AF
Love it.
The makeshift memorial is too good as well.
Sasaki is a Dodger.Quote:
Originally Posted by Woodsy
Our franchise is better than yours.
Sorry, not sorry.
salary cap coming to a league near you at the end of 2026!
and more than anything, we need a salary floor.
Mets and Dodgers both needed high leverage lefty relievers, so they both did what proper baseball organizations do, they went and got them.
Even better that the Sox offered a higher AAV and more years for Scott, but he chose the Dodgers instead.Quote:
Originally Posted by Woodsy
If they can stay healthy (huge if), this team could knock the 27 Yanks off their pedestal.
Happy to see Billy Wagner finally squeeze in to the Hall. That dude was nasty and I loved that he could throw gas with that short arm delivery. Not so happy to see that some dipshit out there left Ichiro off their ballot though. They should get rid of the anonymous option for those votes. If you are too big of a coward to defend your choices you shouldn't get a vote.
The stereotypical 90 year old out of touch Hall of Fame voter who gets to make it all about himself once a year can fuck right off.
CC
Ichiro
Wagner?
Wagner.
it was time he got his due.
Agree
CC will always be a favorite of mine. Class act.
https://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/ml...s-mark/?sn-ampQuote:
Originally Posted by BmillsSkier
billy wagner?
very nice reliever but i don’t see it. didn’t throw a thousand innings. did he have a cy young? a ws win? anything memorable? who is next, papelbon? chapman? nathan? gagne? the best teams usually have a guy like wagner. he was more durable than most but not at a level of mo, smoltz, eck, hoffman.
would the mets even retire his number? i’d vote twice for john franco but c’mon.
Wagner was the most unhittable lefty of all time. Yes, he didn't throw 1000 innings, he threw 900. ERA+ of 187.
For lefty pitchers with 900 innings pitched (not just relief pitchers, all pitchers), though, Wagner is first in OPP Avg (.187), OPP OPS (.558), WHIP (.998), ERA (2.31), and K.9IP (11.92). That is all the lefties of the modern live ball era.
And another couple of factoids: Billy Wagner could return to the majors, surrender 100 consecutive hits, and have the same career opponent batting average as Mariano Rivera (.211). Wagner could surrender 200 consecutive hits and still have a lower career opponent batting average than Lee Smith (.237).
He wasn't Rivera, nobody was. Rivera was one of those rare players who is simply the unquestioned best at his position. But Wagner ranks right up there with any other reliever.
He also was a natural righty, but after breaking his arm a few times he taught himself how to pitch lefty. Then proceeded to strike out 35% of every hitter he ever faced.
Seriously? Not at the level of Mo or Eck means you’re not HOF material?Quote:
Originally Posted by ex-powderbroker
Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums
i’m not sure. if you look at the relievers in the hall he’s the worst one, right? and there are at least a handful of guys that i think are comparable with 20-30war, same role, that i just don’t see as having a huge impact on the game given limited innings. Obviously Im in the minority.
The difference between him and someone who won’t get a single vote like David Robertson is pretty small.
No, he isn't the worst one. He's better than Lee Smith ever was. He was better than Rollie Fingers and Bruce Sutter. Arguably better than Hoffman. I think the only two relievers that clearly have a better case than him are Mariano and Eck (hard to compare him to Hoyt Wilhelm or Gossage since their usage was so different, and even Eck is hard because so much of his value came from his SP days).
What part of the stats I posted are you not looking at? All of them, it seems, because again, for all players with 900 IP or more (which by the way is 15 years of 60 IP -- a normal amount of innings for a closer --- so not a short career total for a closer), he was the most unhittable lefty in baseball history. And get out of here with that Robertson shit, Wagner's ERA+ is 43 points better, his WHIP is .158 better, OPP average, OPP OPS, all significantly better. I'll repeat, in the modern era, i.e. the last 100+ years, he is literally the most unhittable lefty ever. Come on, man.
And I think WAR, which is a stat I find very valuable, is not as useful for closers, because it will value middle relievers more highly because they pitch more innings.
I like that the Baseball HoF still seems to mean something when compared to the others (basketball is such a fucking joke) but it also tends to take itself entirely too seriously and debates like this one illustrate that.
Oh, you were a top ten XXXX in the history of this game? Sorry, you can't come in.
You weren't as good as the best ever XXXX in the history of the game? Benny's Hall of Very Good and Sports Bar and Grille is down the street, get the pickled eggs next to Ted Williams' frozen head.
Don't get me started on the voters.
to say that he’s the best or most unhittable lefty EVAR is a little disingenuous as closers have on been used like this since the late 80s.
Chapman strikes out 15/9. Is he more unhittable? His FIP is better than Wagner.
Kenley Jansen, in.
Joe Nathan was really good.
Pap and Robertson really aren’t far behind.
It really just comes down to what kind of hall you want, I guess.
Tom Prince, best back up catcher.
Javier Lopez, greatest LOOGY
In some ways those would help tell the story of baseball as well, but maybe not obvious greatness.
Wagner is clearly better than Lee Smith but if there was a mechanism for tossing people out he’d be one of the first five, no?
super interesting article written by a ninth grade girl and her dad on there being too few relievers in the hall:
https://sabr.org/journal/article/mor...me-which-ones/
[emoji2955]
I will repeat, for lefty pitchers with 900 innings pitched (not just relief pitchers, all pitchers), Wagner is first in OPP Avg (.187) (not to mention OPP OPS (.558), WHIP (.998), ERA (2.31), and K.9IP (11.92)). That is all the lefties of the modern live ball era. Thus, to say that he's the most unhittable lefty ever for pitchers with 900 IP min is not disingenuous, it's an objective fact.
To point out that Chapman currently has a better FIP proves what, exactly? To argue that Wagner doesn't belong because some other pitchers not yet eligible might get in, or that "Joe Nathan was really good" (is that even an argument? in any event, Nathan should have gotten a longer look but even so, his numbers aren't as good as Wagner's) is silly. And no way does Papelbon get in, and Jansen unlikely though he's still pitching so his numbers could change.
If you want to make an actual fact-based argument, feel free; there are certainly arguments that could be made. If you just want to complain because Wagner doesn't feel like a hall of famer to you, then keep doing what you're doing.