OT Red Sox - say it ain't so Alex
 

Yikes!!! 2nd thread - same topic.
My home teams are taking a beating.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/r...BpI/story.html

Coupled with the Patriots Deflate-Gate and video spying, Boston championships are looking like the equivalent of Lance’s TdF wins.


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Ouch! That stings!

Indeed, "[Insert Boston Sports Figure] ran the most sophisticated [Insert alleged misdeed] programme ever"

Connect the dots

Houston followed by Red Sox = Alex Cora

When people start getting year-long bans, or longer, it’ll change.

Hate to admit it but I think you are right.

This said, I wonder if everyone isn’t doing this and these two teams are the easiest targets? The reason I say this is that when you look into how they were doing this it seems so easy that you’d have to try not to do this (corporate world calls this a firewall). In addition, the last year or two has seen an increase in hitting numbers. People have speculated that MLB is juicing the ball but how exactly would they do this? I mean how’s a pitcher not going to notice? MLB has admitted they changed the stitching which resulted in a decrease in seam size but I don’t believe this alone explains better hitting numbers.

A couple other thoughts. Does this impact what a team might be willing to offer for Betts? He’s a great fielder but most teams are likely interested in his bat. If his numbers are partially a result of cheating then what will his productivity look like going forward? This said, he was good before Cora arrived but I still wonder.

One other thing I wondered about is if teams are routinely stealing signs, doesn’t this favor pitchers who work rapidly on the mound or are hitters able to get the signal regardless of how fast a pitcher tries to work?


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I'd guess people have been doing this since signs were invented.

And while I tend to agree with you, Saab, I'm not sure one- or two-year bans are going to change things that much. MLB let the Barry Bonds fiasco go on until they'd made a pile of money off of him, these investigations are happening after lucrative World Series runs ... maybe I have leftover cynicism from the Bud Selig years but I feel the Lance comparison is apt: get away with it until the business is satisfied, then become an example.

It is probably blasphemy, but why not give the pitcher and catcher a little ear piece like the QB gets in football.

Have the pitches come in from the coach, and allow the pitcher or catcher to shake them off. Combine this with a faster pitch clock, and maybe the game would speed up a bit.

Nobody minds stealing signs by looking at them from, say, 2nd base. I think the big deal is using illegal (electronic) means.

They made/make a lot of money off home runs. But sign stealing is, to me, different because that's not something that will put butts in seats or raise TV ratings. Home runs will do that.

We'll see what happens. I'm not a giant baseball fan, but I follow it and enjoyed this year's World Series with the Nationals winning. I've begun to follow them over the past decade or so as I spent a bunch of time in the DC area and have been to a few games.

That's one of the proposed adaptations, but pitchers found the earbud to be distracting. I've read a few recent pieces about exploring a solution for this, but it will be interesting to see how the game changes...

The other related evolution being discussed is electronic ball/strike calls. My son shared a stat with me yesterday that over 34,000 ball/strike calls were erroneous in 2018. By my calculation, that's just under 5% error or about 15 missed ball/strikes per game.

I get what you're saying, but electronics are just an available tool, like a military scope in the 50's. The illegal part is what's been going on forever.

https://nypost.com/2002/07/29/51-gia...ealing-scheme/

If I were MLB I would fine owners and have the team forfeit draft picks - Hitting ownership's wallet in the short term (the fine) and long term (lack of draft capital can result in a lack of young, cheap talent going forward).

OT Red Sox - say it ain't so Alex
 

I totally hate the idea of robo umpire. I know it’s coming but to me the way the zone has always been a bit dynamic, depending on the umpire, has been part of the fun of watching baseball. It encourages controversy, posturing, and is a dance between at minimum the pitcher, catcher, hitter and umpire.




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As a Dodgers fan, this really connects a lot of dots.

:)