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Dusty Baker just hired as Nats manager!

Mike Maddux not returning as Rangers' pitching coach, brother Greg no longer servings as special consultant, All them Madduxes can now be yours!

Shifts - short term gimmick or the future of defense?

Shifts and Scorecards - how do you mark a 5-3 putout when the third baseman is playing on the other side of second base?

Scorecards - does anybody still keep them? When was the last time you did?

All this and more, the first batch of logs are now lit.

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I think if shifts are used intelligently, they can be very solid tactics. 

But, too many times this year, especially against Mike Moustakas, I saw teams putting a shift on him just because he was a pull hitter last year. Never mind the 30/40/50/60/70/80/120 games your scouts attended this year that saw him post a fairly random spray chart. Hey, he's a lefty, gotta shift!

If you intend on using your advanced scouting, or simply Googling Fangraphs, then by all means, shift away. 

Also, please feel free to continue to mindlessly shift against lefties in the Royals line up. 

If you don't want to look like a complete fool, do your homework. 

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I think if the Mets make the playoffs next year that would be an accomplishment in and of itself as, except for 2000 (after they'd gone to the NLCS in 1999), they've never gone to the playoffs in successive years. 

Terry, in his press conference on Sunday, said he was concerned as to how the pitchers' arms would be in spring training after having pitched an extra month this year.  Bob Nightingale, who was on with Steve Phillips and Todd Hollandsworth this morning on MLB Leading Off, sounded a similar note of caution. 

Terry is expected to sign an extension this week. 

Cespedes is not expected to be back and Murphy unlikely to be resigned.  Reportedly, they might be interested in Howie Kendrick, which would be a great signing. 

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46 minutes ago, Scott Dolan said:

I think if shifts are used intelligently, they can be very solid tactics. 

But, too many times this year, especially against Mike Moustakas, I saw teams putting a shift on him just because he was a pull hitter last year. Never mind the 30/40/50/60/70/80/120 games your scouts attended this year that saw him post a fairly random spray chart. Hey, he's a lefty, gotta shift!

If you intend on using your advanced scouting, or simply Googling Fangraphs, then by all means, shift away. 

Also, please feel free to continue to mindlessly shift against lefties in the Royals line up. 

If you don't want to look like a complete fool, do your homework. 

I hate shifts. Weren't they thinking of outlawing that?

 They also need to restrict the plays that can be reviewed. 

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Silly to lay odds so early, sillier to bet now on those odds rather than after March 1 when, even with lagging free agents, everybody who is anybody has a spot on someone's roster.

My Dad kept a scorecard for games watched in person but that was a long time ago. And, I have no idea why there would be any doubt that a 3B to 1B putout is scored 5-3 regardless of where the 3B may be positioned.  Or do you think the groundball to the outfield should be scored 9-3 since 2B is playing a short rightfield?

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24 minutes ago, Dan Gould said:

Silly to lay odds so early, sillier to bet now on those odds rather than after March 1 when, even with lagging free agents, everybody who is anybody has a spot on someone's roster.

My Dad kept a scorecard for games watched in person but that was a long time ago. And, I have no idea why there would be any doubt that a 3B to 1B putout is scored 5-3 regardless of where the 3B may be positioned.  Or do you think the groundball to the outfield should be scored 9-3 since 2B is playing a short rightfield?

No, it'd still be scored 5-3, but the cool thing about a scorecard is that if you saw the game, you can kinda replay it in your mind, visually, from readding it. Just wondered if anybody's been known to have a system where 5-3 shows where the 3B was if it's some mega-shift.

Of course odds now are silly, but still amusing. Might be interesting to compare what they are now to waht they are on opening day, see what the betting community thanks of the various roster moves that will undoubtedly transpire.

I've not kept a scorecard in 20+ years...is that becoming a lost art/craft/fetish/whatever? When I was a kid, hell, I'd keep one for a radio game sometimes, just to do it.

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Well I'd say if you saw a scorecard in which, say, David Ortiz was retired 5-3, you can picture where the 3B was when he fielded the grounder, and it wasn't anywhere near 3B.  And I am sure there are people who have a system of putting an asterisk or mark where the ball was fielded when the play is way out of the fielder's range unless there's a hellacious shift.

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Nationals signed Dusty Baker? Good move, I hope!  Some Wash Post writers apparently felt they got burned on the story because they reported it would be Bud Black, and now they are taking it out on the team owner in columns and blogs. It's hard to read even the Post sometimes! And sports radio here is just impossible.

How about a move for Justin Upton to DC? Put him in left, Harper in center, and Werth in right? Although it appears that Harper was high in the voting on Gold Glove for right field this year, so maybe he should stay there.

Edited by Neal Pomea
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I gotta wonder what's in it for Baker. It's a two year contract but I haven't heard the terms. Anyway, I doubt he'll stay more than two years. This team is more than a couple of years away from it all, IMO.

I think Black was offered 1.6 million for a year, which sounded like a starting point for discussions of two+ years, but that didn't come to fruition. I think Metheny makes 600,000 or thereabouts per year. Don't quite understand Black's feeling deeply insulted. Offered less than Mattingly, but more than all but a few managers, if what I read is correct.

Hoping Trea Turner and Lucas Giolito come up faster than scheduled, and the GM can make some miracle free agent signings.

When you see how the KC team came up together through AA and AAA, DC seems to be a lot more on the mercenary side of the game. Lots of different models and approaches, that's for sure.

Not pulling for a Giants-Royals rematch in 2016!!

Edited by Neal Pomea
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What Chuck said. Can't forget Dusty putting his little kid Darren on his lap during post-game interviews after a bad loss in an attempt to deflect tough questions (although Darren, now 13, probably is not lap size anymore). Also, when things go really bad, wait for Dusty to cite his racist hate mail.

P.S. You may remember little Darren almost getting run over in the 2002 WS:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzV7x8WcR4g
 

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10 hours ago, Larry Kart said:

What Chuck said. Can't forget Dusty putting his little kid Darren on his lap during post-game interviews after a bad loss in an attempt to deflect tough questions (although Darren, now 13, probably is not lap size anymore). Also, when things go really bad, wait for Dusty to cite his racist hate mail.

P.S. You may remember little Darren almost getting run over in the 2002 WS:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzV7x8WcR4g
 

 I remember that. Good luck to the Nationals after this move.

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At least with the Cubs, one of Dusty's key issues was fostering among his players a pissy, whining, "the media and most of the rest of the world is out to get us," attitude. This helped to make his Cubs teams pretty darn insufferable even when they were winning and perhaps contributed to their brittleness under playoff stress.

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