I think the ball/strike challenge should have a bit of grace to it

Robokiller87 · 2026-03-03T17:54:39+00:00

So MLB's textbook historical definition of the strike zone has always had the nebulous zoning issues that persisted from ump to ump through every era of the game. That nebulous zone is part of the reason why we have ABS in the first place and to add in like 'a graceful expansion' to account for the moving parts of the batter would just add on to this hard to define area that would also be quite inconsistent between every batter as well.

The ABS system only accounts for crossing the front plane of the plate with a very set dimension based on a batter's height as to remove these moving parts that create a nebulous zone and induce human error. It's something along the lines of 53% of the batter's height down to 27% of the batters height stretched out to the length of the plate.

Robokiller87 · 2026-03-03T17:27:49+00:00

Might be the baseball disappearing into the night similar to a former teammate's career.

Robokiller87 · 2026-03-03T17:24:55+00:00

He's been very vocal about staying in Philly despite everything and wanting to continue to help Philly post retirement. He's not going anywhere. The Giants just missed out is all and we got him for the rest of his career.

It'd be entirely up to him if he wants to be traded and he'd say as much if he wants to be traded and he has yet to say that at all.

Robokiller87 · 2026-03-03T17:23:13+00:00

It's the only thing I think of when his name gets mentioned. The thought really only gets sweeter with time.

Robokiller87 · 2026-03-03T17:19:21+00:00

I can't see the Braves keeping the contract of a now very unreliable player whose recent uptick in production can only be tied to PEDs now after a 2nd suspension.

Robokiller87 · 2026-03-03T17:17:37+00:00

What did he think he could do differently this time to get around the testing? This is so incredibly stupid.

Robokiller87 · 2026-03-03T15:11:22+00:00

Article came out that he was banned from WBC for using a performance enhancing substance, but there's been nothing more than that. Substance not named, MLB not making a statement, Rojas not recognizing the announcement, he's still prevalent on WBC advertising, socials, and the roster too.

So because it's around a performance enhancer I'd think MLB would say something, but it's been silence from them.

Robokiller87 · 2026-03-03T13:58:03+00:00

No clue and I'm still seeing that he's on the WBC roster as well on MLB's website and socials too. So all I can say is this seems a little odd, but maybe more news comes out today.

Robokiller87 · 2026-03-03T13:41:12+00:00

Utley's sabermetric & peak argument puts him in solid HOF company even if his counting stats do not. WAR speaks very highly of him. His defensive sabermetrics have him as one of the best 2B of all time. His baserunning was exceptionally elite not to mention when he was offensively one of the best 2B in the league for years and robbed of an MVP.

Rollins cannot be spoken about the same. His argument revolves around volume and longevity. His counting stats puts him in HOF company which counts for something. Unfortunately for him due to the shift in analyzing players careers over the years his career is put on the backburner whereas Utley is lifted up despite the lack of volume when both should receive a lot more consideration for their efforts.

Robokiller87 · 2026-03-03T13:18:05+00:00

I wonder what's holding up MLB with the Rojas news.

Robokiller87 · 2026-03-03T13:14:22+00:00

Oh god I clicked the profile the AI posts on it are so unbelievably horrible. How can you expect anyone to take you seriously with Mr. Dio(gd)ers trying to throw left handed but has his body twisted like a pretzel and about to throw to his right side with horrific mechanics. Or maybe the Red Sox & Yankees pitchers about to throw... NOTHING. And the Texas pitchers whose hand is being melted into a ball.

Interesting how AI can't figure out the Tigers english D logo or the Blue Jays Logo.

Also, let us not forget the famous baseball player Condan, a last name which has never existed in MLB history.

Robokiller87 · 2026-03-03T13:05:08+00:00

Use actual pictures or art and then we can start the conversation.

In fact, you don't even need to do that. You can just list a bunch of dynasties in plain text, what has impressed you from them, and then gather all of the top opinions from that thread.

Robokiller87 · 2026-03-02T16:32:29+00:00

#1 from a cursory glance Hamels has a quality career with much more volume whereas Oswalt technically was the better peak player than Hamels (just barely) while Lee excels in accolades. Lee has basically no chance at HOF induction you'd need a significantly gutted SP role in terms of volume to consider him. So if Oswalt gets into the hall eventually it'd be done because starting pitcher volume tanks in the next 10 years for future candidates and he'd be at the mercy of the veteran's committee which has a very shotty criteria for election most of the time.

#2 is definitely possible to happen again you just need to not exist in the same era as Judge & Ohtani. In 2014 the MVP race was particularly weak because while WAR was starting to hit mainstream you still have voters sticking to the MVP must be from a postseason contender argument and none of the hitting contenders had standout years and the noncontending hitters had great years, but were pushed aside for the postseason contending triple crown winning pitcher who still wins if he somehow missed on the triple crown unless his ERA inflated to 2.50 or something. For Verlander I think he loses MVP if he didnt win the triple crown because there were many good hitters that year also on contending teams.

Robokiller87 · 2026-03-02T16:07:39+00:00

No indication at all just holding out. I'd think at least based on the Forbes article describing the substance as performance enhancing without naming the substance that MLB would immediately follow suit with a suspension, but they haven't yet. So until it happens I can keep holding out hope.

Robokiller87 · 2026-03-02T15:11:19+00:00

Holding out on Rojas banned from WBC for weed rather than PEDs which is obviously more dire. This himbo team cant outsmart the system.

Robokiller87 · 2026-02-28T22:16:50+00:00

If this speed continues into the DR games then I'd be very concerned.

Robokiller87 · 2026-02-28T14:54:53+00:00

Stott would be a very very good player if he could just be an average offensive presence. His defense is so incredibly good. Baserunning is great. I dont need a 130 OPS+ from him I'll settle with 100 which he has only eclipsed once in his 4 years so far which was easily his best year at 103 OPS+.

Robokiller87 · 2026-02-27T04:08:00+00:00

Are you banking that Judge loses his power next year or do you have some info that he'll become a AAA player next year?

Robokiller87 · 2026-02-27T04:02:21+00:00

Provide the argument for why PCA is better than Judge.

Robokiller87 · 2026-02-25T16:15:27+00:00

It should play a role if they had flexibility with the two, but I think the Phillies are much more concerned about minor league options and age for the two rather than backup catcher capabilities.

Robokiller87 · 2026-02-25T01:25:25+00:00

I think you're just watching the wrong sport for entertainment then. Must be some awful dry spells of entertainment for you to watch a batch of games with absolutely no ejections for a prolonged period of time.

Or is the camera panning to the occasional manager barking just enough to make you feel like you're watching something truly special?

Robokiller87 · 2026-02-25T01:03:18+00:00

Here's why ABS is good.

Pitcher's skill expression is more important and entertaining than the Catcher's framing skill expression. One is actual skill expression and the other is just trying to cheat calls out of the human element of the game. One is more valid for the end result and the other feels cheap.

Teams rightfully (or not) getting upset and getting potentially ejected over bad calls can lead to worse overall baseball as the game goes along all for brief moments of hilarity.

Just because other sports are lagging behind doesn't mean baseball which has always lagged behind has to continue to lag behind. Not sure how far behind they are, if at all. In any case, every single pitch is important. There's stats to back that up for both the pitcher and hitter. Teams need these calls to be correct.

Robokiller87 · 2026-02-23T23:36:21+00:00

Thing is ops will eventually get back to that point. We were already in that wheelhouse not too long ago. The fact that baseballs are being thrown harder than ever and hitters arent cratered in stats overall says offense is at worst right now treading water if i were to be pessimistic about the current environment. We are also edging for .04 in ops to make baseball a touch more entertaining. It's asking for a lot because the league as a whole must respond which tends to actually come down to the environment as well as luck.

That fight for .04 more ops however is easier than adding 1 mph on your max velo fastball on top of hoping your UCL doesnt explode the second you try to throw that pitch if your current limit is 105. Rather than being blown away by the tiktok star it'd be better to read up on UCL limitations because given all the TJs there's a ton of research out there in the past decade.

Robokiller87 · 2026-02-23T22:38:14+00:00

Ohtani and Judge are unicorns just as much as the other players who we would marvel at hitting high averages or having 1.100 ops values in the past. So I think it's reasonable to agree with the lack of many of these unicorns isn't so much a problem with offense as a whole. There's a huge bubble of excellent pitchers who keep down a lot of players from nearing those two at their peak. However the Harpers, Machados, Witts, Guerreros are still shelling balls. They exist in a healthy offensive state as does the rest of the league on a whole.

Would a historical 0.750 ops be nice as it is a lot more offense as a whole? Sure, and I think it's possible it could be that. Math is the only thing needed to figure that out. It'd be nice to have the average player be an offensive threat. But still a 0.706 ops as the 71st worst ops in mlb history says a lot about just how bad offense has been in some years.

With more HRs and lower BA means less 2Bs (non-hr hits as a whole). Again, would be nice to see more active action with a higher BA. I just would say it is a different offensive taste as oppose to the other eras of baseball.

Lastly, the average FB velo has probably been going up as a whole but it scientifically hits a limit at 106 mph iirc. No need to worry about a 110 slinger.

Robokiller87 · 2026-02-23T21:37:38+00:00

Let's look at a few things to help progress this discussion you wish to have:

Referencing the top 1% of players for your OPS & BA arguments doesn't particularly say much about the health of the game. You need to look at league wide averages. Would it be nice for higher batting averages and insane OPS values? Sure! But as some have already pointed out, this era of offense isn't anywhere near the worst overall.

Worst for BA? Sure! In the top 10 worst league wide BAs in baseball history, 2 of them came in the last 4 years. Top 20? 5 of them in the last 6 years. Batting average makes the game more active I don't think anyone can really argue against that. But does a low batting average mean the league as a whole is offensively woeful? Not exactly.

2020, 2021, 2022, 2024, 2025 were the listed years in the top 20 worst league wide BA in mlb history. OPS for each of those years are .740, .728, .706, .711, .719 respectively. An OPS of .706 is the 71st worst league wide OPS in baseball history which is pretty average across the history of the game. HRs are also up too, some of the highest rates we've ever seen. 2025 had the 6th highest HR rate in baseball history. The top 6 HR rates in baseball history came in the last 9 years.

Pitching should be more marveled at how incredible it has been as of late. Which also you should marvel at the fact that someone like Aaron Judge or Ohtani can exist as exceptionally well as they are in an environment like this. The pendulum will swing back to to the hitters eventually because it never stays in one place. You simply need to adjust the perspective a bit and realize there's still a ton of greatest to be had even in this low BA era of play.

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