2019 MLB Season

[Digby]

And they've got David Ortiz throwing out the first pitch tonight. The Henry regime is some kind of craven and ruthless.

[pmoehrin]

21 hours ago, Digby said:

Alex Cora (who didn't make this decision) has been thrown to the wolves at the press conference without John Henry or any other front-office members in sight. Charming as ever.

 

That was pretty messed up.

 

It's a manager's job to communicate information and act as a liaison between the front office and the players. It's not a manager's job to communicate information and act as a liaison between the front office and the media.

[Wings]

Before the Giants loss to to the Pirates on Monday:

 

Bruce Bochy years managing

1995-2019

 

Bruce Bochy's career record 

1,995-2,019

 

Whoa. 

[CS85]

[goalieboy82]

please let there be a 4 way tie for the second NL wildcard (as the Mets and Phillies are 2 games back for the Cubs and Brewers).  

[Sport]

Eugenio Suarez and Pete Alonso are tied for the MLB home run lead at 47. Two players everyone definitely knew about when this season began. 

[CS85]

https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2019/09/17/pirates-all-star-closer-felipe-vazquez-arrested-on-charges-of-solicitation-of-a-child/
 

Quote

Pittsburgh Pirates’ closer Felipe Vázquez has been arrested on charges of pornography and soliciting a child.

 

According to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Vázquez was arrested Tuesday morning in Pittsburgh on a felony warrant out of Lee County, Florida.

Vázquez, 28, of Saint Cloud, Florida, is facing charges of computer pornography – solicitation of a child and one count of providing obscene material to minors.

 

Pennsylvania State Police investigators and FDLE officials served a search warrant this morning at Vázquez’s Pittsburgh apartment.

 

Investigators say they seized several electronic devices, which will undergo forensic examinations as part of the ongoing investigation.

 

Florida law enforcement officials say their investigation began last month after officials “obtained information that Vázquez had a reported sexual relationship with a 13-year-old female” in Florida. Authorities say the alleged victim, now 15, had gotten text messages from Vázquez saying the would meet up after baseball season.

 

Investigators say the girl also allegedly received a video in July from the pitcher in which he is shown performing a sex act.

 

According to ESPN MLB Insider Jeff Passan, Major League Baseball officials have put Vázquez on administrative leave.

 

 

[SFGiants58]

Where was this scrutiny when Mel Hall was playing? He could have been stopped before he diddled more underage girls.

[LMU]

59 minutes ago, CS85 said:

https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2019/09/17/pirates-all-star-closer-felipe-vazquez-arrested-on-charges-of-solicitation-of-a-child/
 

 

And yet Friedman got so much grief for not giving up May and Lux for him at the deadline.

[pmoehrin]

1 hour ago, SFGiants58 said:

Where was this scrutiny when Mel Hall was playing? He could have been stopped before he diddled more underage girls.

 

That's a really good question because it wasn't like Hall had this sterling reputation even when he was playing.

 

His career averages don't look bad until you realize he avoided lefties like the plague and with good reason. (.222 career average vs. LHP's, and just 11 dingers in 699 AB's.)

 

His best year in the Majors was probably his last year with the Yankees. He hit .280 and finished the year with 36 doubles, which was good enough to be top ten in the league.

 

From what I understand, Buck Showalter made it clear in no uncertain terms that Mel Hall was not welcome back to the Yankees for the '93 season, which weirdly is part of what kicked off the Yankee dynasty. His departure opened up a corner outfield spot, which the Yankees filled by dealing Roberto Kelly to Cincy in exchange for Paul O'Neill.

 

No other team even made an effort to sign Hall in the off-season which effectively ended his Major League career.

 

As to why Hall wasn't looked at more, I don't know. He got into fistfights with teammates, reporters, and clubhouse personnel. Practically tried to bully Bernie Williams out of the league. Would constantly stir crap up to get a rise out of people. And this is just the stuff people are willing to go on record about. Even in a league where every fifth player could fall under the definition of being a narcissistic psychopath, his behavior stood out.

[SFGiants58]

3 hours ago, pmoehrin said:

 

That's a really good question because it wasn't like Hall had this sterling reputation even when he was playing.

 

(snip)

 

As to why Hall wasn't looked at more, I don't know. He got into fistfights with teammates, reporters, and clubhouse personnel. Practically tried to bully Bernie Williams out of the league. Would constantly stir crap up to get a rise out of people. And this is just the stuff people are willing to go on record about. Even in a league where every fifth player could fall under the definition of being a narcissistic psychopath, his behavior stood out.

 

Well, what you described doesn't even cover all of what he did. Aside from the fistfights and the awful things he did to Bernie Williams, he also:

• had some criminal charges that prevented him from going to Canada in the '96 season (when he was with the Giants) - Rod Beck told a story about how they had to smuggle him into the country whenever the Giants played the Expos
• made arrogant claims to reporters about how he could beat Mike Tyson (ever seen the picture of Mitch "Blood" Green after his streetfight with Tyson? I doubt Hall would fare better)
• kept huge collections of motorcycles and wild tigers with him
• groomed a 15 year-old girl while playing for the Yankees, bought her and her family expensive gifts and house renovations, moved in with her (before she moved in with him), and paraded her around - he was her prom date! The picture is in the spoilers, because of how I find it so repulsive (the girl's face is censored)

Spoiler

• Hall bought off the girl's family so that they wouldn't object to the relationship - the parents sold out their kid to the guy
• the relationship was so public that Hall and the 15 year-old appeared as a couple in the 1991 Yankee yearbook - teammates and publicity people had an idea what was going on and didn't question it further

The podcast Crime in Sports covered his story excellently, as did this article. The two hosts of CIS still believe that he is one of the scummiest individuals they've covered, which is saying a lot (they've done pieces on wrestler Buck Zumhofe, tennis star Bob Hewitt, "Fast" Eddie Johnson, Dave Meggett, wrestler "Hardbody" Harrison Norris, Milton Bradley, and skater Mark "Gator" Rogowski). 

 

Like I said, where was the scrutiny? Then again, we were far less able to identify sexual abuse in the early '90s. I'm just happy Vásquez was caught before he escalated any further.

 

[NDFreek]

Well, it’s gotten to the point where every game for the Cubs has become a must win. They control their own destiny here. I went to the game tonight and I never thought I’d be so frustrated about a Cubs team that continuously is in contention. With the Brewers on this run, things aren’t looking to hot. 11 games left, down to the wire.

[Dalcowboyfan92]

Cavan hit for the cycle last night in Baltimore, joining his pop; Craig, and becoming the second father-son duo to hit for the cycle.

[Sport]

18 hours ago, pmoehrin said:

 

That's a really good question because it wasn't like Hall had this sterling reputation even when he was playing.

 

His career averages don't look bad until you realize he avoided lefties like the plague and with good reason. (.222 career average vs. LHP's, and just 11 dingers in 699 AB's.)

 

His best year in the Majors was probably his last year with the Yankees. He hit .280 and finished the year with 36 doubles, which was good enough to be top ten in the league.

 

From what I understand, Buck Showalter made it clear in no uncertain terms that Mel Hall was not welcome back to the Yankees for the '93 season, which weirdly is part of what kicked off the Yankee dynasty. His departure opened up a corner outfield spot, which the Yankees filled by dealing Roberto Kelly to Cincy in exchange for Paul O'Neill.

 

 

This has nothing to do with anything in your post except this reminded me that during the All-Star break I saw Paul O'neill at Kenwood Mall here in Cincinnati. He was wearing workout attire and looked like he could hit .200 in the bigs right now if a GM would let him. 

[Discrim]

I know one thing, I knew...I just knew things would go south that one year the Cubs signed Milton Bradley.  And that was when his rep was merely "petulant hotheaded manbaby," not "wife beater."

Had honestly never heard of Mel Hall, dude makes Gameboard look like a decent human being.

[AustinFromBoston]

Red Sox are playing a series against the Giants this week, so of course they're making a huge deal of Mike Yastremski making his debut in the same ball park his Grandfather played in.

 

[Wings]

25 minutes ago, AustinFomBoston said:

Red Sox are playing a series against the Giants this week, so of course they're making a huge deal of Mike Yastremski making his debut in the same ball park his Grandfather played in.

 

 

[SFGiants58]

50 minutes ago, Discrimihater said:

I know one thing, I knew...I just knew things would go south that one year the Cubs signed Milton Bradley.  And that was when his rep was merely "petulant hotheaded manbaby," not "wife beater."

Had honestly never heard of Mel Hall, dude makes Gameboard look like a decent human being.

 

The only person who could maybe top Mel Hall in the awfulness scale would have been Ugueth Urbina, if he’d successfully committed murder. Because he thankfully failed, he’s not to the Mel Hall/Milton Bradley level.

 

[Bagel]

I'll be honest, when we lost Yelich, I figured the season was over. But they're making a run of it and their schedule compared to the Cubs and Cards is pretty favorable.

 

I still don't think the Brewers will be able to do anything in the playoffs (if they make it) but I would be quite alright if they continue to prove me wrong.

[Dynasty]

The Cardinals will win the division.

 

They'll have some nobody come out of nowhere and dominate the Braves, carrying them to the NLCS. We'll all be like "oh, not this again", as they take the first two games against the Dodgers. But then St. Louis will ultimately lose the series in seven games, where we'll all (except for Giants fans) have a big sigh of relief.