July 27, 2024

37 thoughts on “Yankees.com: Rizzo’s miscue stings: ‘That play needs to be made’”

  2. They need to replace Rizzo ASAP. He’s basically worthless.
    Same for Gleyber but I have hope that maybe he wakes up. I have no hope for Rizzo. It shouldn’t be out hard to find an upgrade. Maybe one of the OF can play 1b when Jasson returns. This might a WS contending team: the right “little” move might be the difference.

    1. i feel pretty similarly about these guys which is why i suggested trying verdugo at first a bit.

      one thing i do not want them to do is to destroy the chemistry like 22 when they sent off monty.

      if verdugo’s impact balancing the lineup and personality-wise go beyond the back of his card, so be it.

      as far as Rizzo and Gleyber, Rizzo’s best days are clearly behind him. His defense has taken a big hit this season. He’s not a butcher like some of the guys they’ve had but he’s also a far cry from donnie/tino.

      with gleyber, i have been sick of him for years. he always finds a way to get on my bad side with the defense or hustle, and with his bat, what happened?

      DJ and Peraza can share second. these shouldn’t be hard problems for the best gm in basball or brian cashman.

  3. Once upon a time Cash would get players who had a huge impact – David Justice was probably his best in season move. Glenallen hill was another (1.112 OPS in 40 games).
    More recently it’s been total duds – Montas being a recent example.

    2. I have a signed David Justice baseball that I paid $50 for in a charity auction 24 years ago. The signature is basically a shadow at this point though.

  4. Setting aside the questions of intent behind why MLB made the move, or trying to de-contextualize the relative competition level across leagues and eras — which are their own messes to wade into — I’m curious if anyone more statistically minded can explain something with the official recognition of Negro Leagues stats in the record book.

    Does this seem statistically slippery for rate stats, given how few PAs these guys typically had relative to contemporary MLB’ers of the 1880s-1950s? Looking at BB-Ref, just in AVG they don’t list Gibson as the career king even though a lot of stories written about the move say he displaced Cobb’s .367 because Gibson’s career .372 came on like 2300 PAs. (BB-Ref uses a 3k min PA cutoff.)

    AP story says statisticians were involved in the 17-person committee that made these decisions, so I’m assuming there’s a statistical argument here I don’t understand.

    And I get that the prior list included guys like Lefty O’Doul (3660 PAs) and a few American Association types with limited resumes in a dead-ball era that may as well have been a different game altogether, but it seems like the ceiling for sample size from the Negro Leagues (like Cool Papa Bell and Turkey Stearns) is close to the floor for most major leaguers.

    Does this all work and checks out as apples-to-apples, or is it fuzzy?

    Or am I just annoyed both because I hate to see The Babe tumble down any leaderboard, and now I have to learn new all-time numbers after having .367 seared into my brain since I was like 6?

    1. BBR handled the unification better.

      MLB seems consistently so confused about baseball.

    2. I’ve long since come to the conclusion: screw them. Manfred’s going to decide this?

      No. I decide this. The Negro Leagues was a different organization and why do I give a rat’s a$$ what Manfred thinks? Why do any of us accept that they decide what’s official, what counts, how we assess the available information? They’re fools.

      So you do NOT have to learn new all-time numbers. Unless you decide you want to – in which case you could have done that before. But why some corporate decision make you change your mind I can’t fathom.

    3. The way I come down on the rate stats issue is that A. It obviously IS a problem to compare players with such drastically different amount of games played, but B. The problem wasn’t that of Josh Gibson, Buck O’Neil, etc., so they shouldn’t be punished because of the terrible racism that kept them from being able to prove whether they WOULD have had those same numbers had they played in the NL or the AL. So in a bad situation, this is absolutely the fair solution.

    5. I disagree. There IS no solution. In fact, there is no problem.
      What happened happened. We can discuss it. We can compare and argue. That’s it. Nothing else is needed.

      It seems equally reasonable that MLB records should be MLB records simply because they’re MLB records and non-MLB records are not MLB records. Doesn’t mean we can’t argue that Gibson was, in fact, BETTER than Ruth. If we want to. But it’s an argument based in his performance where he performed it. No demonstration of our values being different from those of that time changes that, nor does it do any of those players any justice (or injustice).

    6. Major League Baseball has set this precedent many, many, many years ago by counting other “Major” Leagues that weren’t the Major Leagues for stats. This is just being consistent.

    7. It is simple, it is pandering. And almost all the meaningful stats are hitters because everyone knew back in the day that the Negro Leagues had terrible pitching (the best analysis I saw a few years ago referred to the pitching as sometime AAA level and sometimes less) with an occasional star thrown in. Heck, Jackie Robinson, a terrific player, and having played no organized baseball, had a 205 OPS+ in his only year in the Negro Leagues; the best he had in MLB was a 154 OPS+ in 1954.

    8. Interesting about the other leagues. I presume you mean PRIOR leagues? Pretty sure they don’t count the Players’ League. And somehow I don’t think consistency was their actual motivation. Which isn’t necessarily bad (or good), of course.

      Ultimately I don’t really care, as I don’t consider them an authority on the subject. I don’t think it does much to promote a serious comparison, but, again – whatever.

    10. Thanks, Brian – interesting. I wouldn’t have guessed that! Any other unexpected leagues after 1903 counted?

  5. Especially against LHPs – like tonight – DJ should play 1B and Waldo 3B. Rizzo has basically been playing every day. I don’t know if a rest will help but I know it won’t hurt.

  6. Baseball reference best single season ERA+ has a guy from
    The negro leagues who pitched 28 innings as the best season ever. 28? Rediculous

  7. Were they’re any players who played in both the Negro League and MLB during their prime years, say 25-30, and how did their numbers change after the transition?

    1. Were they’re any players who played in both the Negro League and MLB during their prime years, say 25-30, and how did their numbers change after the transition?

      I don’t believe there were, sadly.

    2. If memory serves, one or two were in their late 20s, early 30s, and they didn’t fare well. Read this many years ago so I can’t recall the names. But Jackie Robinson’s one year in the Negro Leagues, after playing no organized ball, and putting up a 205 OPS+, is telling about the pitching.

    1. Not my intention. This seems aimed to suppress conversation – they’ve decided, and if you disagree, you’re a social retrograde – rather than to enhance it in any way. It’s already the case that nothing prevents us from discussing the past as it was, and that’s not more true today than it was yesterday; it may even be slightly less true.

      But my main point is that MLB’s function is to make sure games are played. Beyond that, we have no reason to listen to them. It’s not a social issue. For example, I have a small HoF which I think is very cool. They have a tourist attraction in Cooperstown which is surely lots of fun and which I’d have no trouble enjoying, but their decisions mean nothing to me.

      Even those decisions, though, mean more than the MLB’s corporate pronouncements. None of us should pay attention to those.

    2. I don’t’ believe anyone has done that. It was what it was. It certainly wasn’t MLB.

  10. Kiner-Falefa has a 108 OPS+ and 1.5 WAR.
    Rotvert has 1.0 WaR and 99 OPS+
    Both are playing a lot better than on the Yankees last year. Interesting

    2. Rortvedt has at least tailed off a lot since his hot start, so I bet that OPS+ will get lower as the season goes on.

      IKF was fine here, too, he just isn’t an everyday shortstop, and likely not a guy you want to invest 2 years/$15 million in, either.

    1. My bet is that Boone thinks it would fuck with Rizzo more to bench him the next game after the fuckup. I bet we’ll see DJ play first the NEXT time they get a lefty.

    1. It’s truly amazing his bad they’ve been the past few weeks. It must be really hard to be a Met fan. One good year and boom.

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